Percy Jackson and the Son of Magic
by KillWilson
Summary: After Alabaster, the son of Hecate, goes missing, the goddess asks Percy and Annabeth to go find him. But what they find may change their world forever. Sequel to Son of Magic by Haley Riordan.
1. The Quest

Hey guys, new Percy Jackson fic.

This story is my second one that focuses on Alabaster Torrington, the Son of Magic. I love that story and I hate that he's underutilized by the fanfiction community, because he's such an awesome character to play with. Honestly, he has so much pain and loneliness that any story becomes ten times more awesome with him in it just because of the character depth and dynamics that his character offers.

Just a fair heads-up, this story has nothing to do with my other story, the Master of Magic. Sorry not sorry? Also, this story is heavily inspired by the original Percy Jackson series, as I tried to write it in the same style, including writing the story in first person POV, from Percy Jackson's perspective.

Anyways, I hope you guys enjoy :) Please review, because I love reviews, good and bad.

* * *

Summary: After Alabaster, the son of Hecate, goes missing, the goddess asks Percy and Annabeth to go find him. But what they find may change their world forever. Sequel to Son of Magic by Haley Riordan.

Disclaimer: I don't own Percy Jackson or its characters, Rick Riordan does. I just own the storyline and any OC's that may pop up.

* * *

**The Quest**

…

Quests are such an inconvenience, as my girlfriend Annabeth would say.

For those of you who don't know me, my name is Percy Jackson. I'm the guy that's saved the world three or four times. Fought off the Titan Lord Kronos in my hometown of New York? That was me. Worked in a team of seven Half-Bloods to stop the Earth Goddess Gaea and her giants from destroying the planet? Also me. Stopped an ancient Egyptian magician from turning himself into a god and reshaping the world into his image? That was a weird one but yes, I was involved.

Point is, Annabeth and I have saved the world. A lot. And after doing all of that, and after helping Annabeth's cousin Magnus, AND losing our friend Jason in the war with the triumvirate a few weeks ago, we had decided to try and retire and live normal lives. Of course, that wasn't gonna happen. Of course some magic goddess just HAD to swing by and ask us for a favor. And I say favor in the nicest way possible, since generally gods don't ask.

But that's not the only place where things went wrong. That's when we earned a new title: the people that helped to end the world.

I'm getting ahead of myself. I need to take a deep breath and start over. Tell you this story right.

Let's track this from the beginning.

…

So, Annabeth and I had limited time left in New York. Thanks to Hera, I'd missed a huge chunk of high school, and I had spent all my time up until last month getting caught up. Now it was June, and in September we planned to move to the West Coast and enroll in New Rome University, a college for demigods and their children. It was in New Rome, a city that was the most beautiful city in the world (in my opinion). New Rome was also under the protection of Camp Jupiter, lead by our friends Frank and Reyna. It was the safest place in the world for her and me to start our lives together.

So, she and I wanted to make as much of a good time as we could with the little bit we had left in Manhattan. We planned on going back to Camp Half-Blood, our home, for one last summer in a week or two, but we wanted to spend a little bit more of our free time in the city first. We had decided to go see a movie and go out to dinner afterwards.

I wanted to go see the new Godzilla movie, but Annabeth wanted to go see some biofilm on Elton John, so we ended up deciding to see the Elton John flick.

Our day started off pretty normal. My mom and my little half-sister Estelle was at a book signing, my stepdad Paul Blofis was at some week-long retreat for his job, so Annabeth met me at my house and we took my stepdad's Prius to the theater. We were going to be just a little early to the 3 o'clock showing.

On the way there, Annabeth argued with my taste in music. Apparently, I listened to too much Zeppelin and not nearly enough music that mortals our age actually listened to. After I reminded her that we weren't exactly like regular mortals our age and that we had already compromised on the movie by choosing to go see the one she wanted to watch, she settled for listening to the Mothership album.

Once we got to the theater and bought our tickets, we started weaving our way to the concessions stand.

As we were standing in line, I saw a green light coming from the bathrooms out of my peripheral vision.

"Did you see that?" I asked Annabeth. She had been looking at the menu.

"See what?" She asked, looking around. The green light was gone.

"I don't know." I admitted, my face turning red. "I must've been seeing things."

Annabeth looked at my quizzically. "Normal people just see things. When has that ever been normal for us?"

"Fair point." I conceded. "Should we check it out?"

"Where was it coming from?" Annabeth asked.

"The bathrooms."

Annabeth sighed, pocketing the cash she had been holding for concessions. "Might as well." She said.

As we worked our way to the bathrooms, we saw the green light again. It was emanating from the women's room. None of the mortals seemed to notice.

"Gotta love the Mist." I commented.

"It's definitely coming from the women's room." Annabeth said. "Let's go see what it is."

"But I can't go in there." I protested as Annabeth put her hand on the door. She turned to me, eyebrows raised.

"And why is that, Seaweed Brain?" She teased.

"Because it's the women's room." I answered back.

"And there's something weird going on in there." Annabeth said. "Aren't heroes supposed to go anywhere they need to, no matter how embarrassing?"

My face was probably a deep shade of crimson. Whatever. It felt weird, but guess I didn't have a choice.

"Ladies first?" I joked, gesturing for Annabeth to open the door. She humphed and flipped around, opening the door.

As I followed her inside, I put my hand in my pocket and clutched my pen that would turn into my magic sword Riptide.

…

As the door closed and disappeared behind us, we found ourselves in a derelict church, with all of the seats covered in dust and unoccupied. On the platform in the front, a glowing green pillar of light was suspended in the air. It must've been the source of light we had seen earlier. In front of it was a woman on her knees, head tilted forward, as if in prayer.

"I don't think this is the ladies room." I said to break the silence.

Annabeth whacked my arm, and then started walking towards the woman. I uncapped Riptide and followed her.

As we got closer, I felt power emanating from the woman. Annabeth looked at me, and mouthed _a god?_

"Why don't you simply ask?" The woman said aloud. I stepped in front of Annabeth with Riptide in front of us as the woman stood and turned, her eyes a brilliant shade of green, glowing with godly power.

"You can go ahead and put that away, Perseus Jackson." The woman said. "If I wanted to hurt you, son of Poseidon, I would have already."

"And who are you?" Annabeth asked.

The woman smiled. "I am Hecate, the goddess of magic."

I looked at Annabeth, and she nodded. As I put away Riptide, I looked at Hecate. "Our friend Hazel told us about you. You helped her learn the magic to save us from the giants in Tartarus."

Hecate nodded. "Aye." She said. "Hazel is by far one of my favorite students. Is she doing well?"

"She's good." Annabeth said uncomfortably, thinking about her reaction to Jason's death.

"Just good?" Hecate asked.

"Not important." I said. "Why were you waiting for us in the ladies room?"

Hecate sighed, and pointed at one of the church pews. We took her meaning and sat down with her.

"What is this place?" Annabeth asked out of curiosity.

"My house." Hecate answered with pride. "Count yourselves special. You are one of the few mortals that have ever been inside."

"Why are we here?" I asked.

"Because I need your help." Hecate responded, wringing her hands.

"Look, I don't know if you've heard, but we're retired." I said. "I'm sure there are other demigods who can help-"

"No, there aren't." Hecate interrupted. "This is a problem with one of my sons, who was banished by the Olympians from Camp Half-Blood. There's no one who can help but you."

"Why was he banished?" Annabeth asked.

"Because he fought in Kronos' army, at Luke Castellan's side." Hecate answered.

"But there was a general amnesty for those demigods." I reminded her. "He was forgiven."

"Aye, but my son, Alabaster, led the rest of his siblings into battle." Hecate explained. "When Typhon fell, just as you were fighting Kronos, the Olympians slaughtered much of Kronos' army, including my children. Alabaster never forgave them for that, and turned down their amnesty."

I shook my head, and looked at Annabeth, at a loss on what to do. She looked back at me, and we looked at Hecate, whose head was in her hands. She seemed extremely worried.

I looked again at Annabeth and mouthed _I think we should do it_.

_Are you sure?_ She mouthed back.

_Positive_. I answered before asking Hecate, "What's the problem?"

Hecate looked at me, and said, "A few days ago, Alabaster was here, in Manhattan, with his companion Dr. Claymore. They were looking into a place they had discovered in their research, some kind of altar. Alabaster didn't really give me all of the details but said that he suspected the entrance to be somewhere beneath Central Park, near or at Orpheus's Cave."

"What were they researching?" Annabeth asked.

"The Primordials." Hecate answered.

"The Primordials?" I asked curiously.

"Yes." Hecate answered. "This world is old, and there were people here before gods and men, before giants and Titans."

My blood ran cold. "Like Gaea?" I asked cautiously.

"Yes." Hecate said. "In every pantheon there are primordials whose origins are suspected and fantasized but not really known. Alabaster and Dr. Claymore were studying their origins."

"So what went wrong?" Annabeth asked.

"I am not certain." Hecate said, her eyebrows furrowing in concern. "Alabaster usually communicates with me in dreams, but I haven't heard from him since the night he decided to go look for the altar. And since the Olympians banished him, I am forbidden from seeking him out in person, and he is forbidden from Manhattan. If I went looking for him and revealed his location the Olympians, they will kill him. That's why I needed your help."

"What do you need from us?" I asked wearily.

"I need the two of you to find him, and make sure he is alright." Hecate said.

"That's it?" I asked incredulously.

"What else would I need?" Hecate asked, confused.

"Well, usually when the gods ask for our help, it's because they either lost something or had it stolen from them." Annabeth explained. "It's usually not this straightforward and simple."

"So, you'll do it?" Hecate asked hopefully.

I looked at Annabeth, and she nodded. I groaned in my head. So much for retirement.

"Sure." I answered. "Where do you think we should start?"

Hecate sighed in relief, and said, "Well, I know he went looking in Central Park."

I looked at Annabeth, and said, "Well, ma'am, I don't know if you've ever been in Central Park, but it's a pretty big place. We need a landmark or something to zero in on, or a starting point."

Hecate tilted her head, as if in thought. "Well, he said he thought the entrance to the altar was near Orpheus's Cave, so you could start there. Maybe ask some of the nature spirits."

"Welp, that's better than nothing." I conceded. "We should probably get started." I said as me and Annabeth stood.

"How will we let you know when we've found him?" Annabeth asked. Leave it to Wise Girl to remember to ask the important questions.

"He will tell me in a dream." Hecate answered, standing and facing the both of us. "I am going to send you both back now." She placed her hands on our heads, and as the room started to disappear around us, she added, "By the way, Mr. Jackson, be careful around Alabaster. He hates you with a passion."

"What?!" I demanded as Hecate and her 'house' vanished, and we found ourselves back in the front seat of the Prius.

"That was…weird." Annabeth said.

"Why would her son hate me is, I think, the important question." I answered, putting my hands in my hoodie and pulling out our tickets.

"I'm sure she was just exaggerating." Annabeth dismissed it. She paused for a few minutes, and then noticed me staring down.

"Percy, what's wrong?" Annabeth asked, concerned.

I looked at her and held up the tickets.

"I just wish she had asked us find her son before I bought these." I complained.

…

…

…To Be Continued?


	2. The Search

So, since I'm a couple of chapters into writing, and I'm sure after the slow pace of the first chapter that you guys would want to see the story move forward a little faster, I decided to, why not, release the second chapter.

I would also like to thank everyone who followed and favorited this story, and to thank The Nova 6 and merendinoemiliano for their reviews. I'm glad you guys have taken such a quick interest in this story, and I would love to encourage everyone who's reading this story to review, as those help to find any problems readers might have with my story and address them in one form or another.

On to the story. Enjoy!

* * *

Summary: After Alabaster, the son of Hecate, goes missing, the goddess asks Percy and Annabeth to go find him. But what they find may change their world forever. Sequel to Son of Magic by Haley Riordan.

Disclaimer: I don't own Percy Jackson or its characters, Rick Riordan does. I just own the storyline and any OC's that may pop up.

* * *

**The Search**

…

The next morning, Annabeth and I were wandering through Central Park, headed to Orpheus's Door.

"Are you sure we shouldn't call Chiron or Grover and get their opinions?" I was asking her. She shook her head.

"Percy, if this Alabaster is banished by Olympus, they wouldn't want us helping him at all." She said. "Besides, Chiron knows as much about the primordials as we do, and Grover is still in California dealing with the wildfires."

"And what do we know about the primordials?" I asked.

"Besides that they exist?" Annabeth said. "Nothing much. And besides Gaea and Tartarus, we haven't really encountered any of them."

I shivered, remembering the dark figure Annabeth and I encountered at the Doors of Death. Him and Gaea were definitely old and terrifying.

"How many of them are there?" I asked. "Were they all immortal?"

"For the most part." Annabeth tried to answer. "As for how many of them there were, I'm not sure. We know about Tartarus and Gaea, and Gaea's first husband, Ouranos, the first God of the Sky. And after our little run-in with Carter and Sadie, I researched a little Egyptian lore and found out about Apophis, the chaos serpent. I think he could be one. But there probably wasn't a whole lot of them, otherwise they would still be around."

"Why do you say that?" I asked her.

"Because just one of them is so powerful that the world nearly ends with just their presence. I imagine if there was an army of them, all of humanity would've been wiped out to begin with."

…

We approached Orpheus's Door, a rock where a cave existed that I had once used to escape the Underworld after my friend Nico had me bathe in the River Styx to become strong enough to fight Kronos. Mortals took leisurely walks and jogs near it everyday and never knew what it was.

"Do you think Alabaster and Dr. Claymore went in there?" Annabeth asked me.

"I don't know." I answered. "They could have. But I don't know that it would take them to the altar thing. I only used it to get out of the Underworld."

"Are you looking for someone?" A voice said from behind us. Annabeth and I jumped and turned to find a girl behind us. She was wearing a plain brown dress and no shoes, and her eyes and hair were green.

"You're a dryad." Annabeth said. The dryad sniffed and looked at me.

"You're Grover's friend, aren't you?" The dryad said.

I looked at Annabeth, and said, "Yeah, we um- we both are. My name is Percy, and this is Annabeth."

The dryad looked us up and down, and said, "My name is Alura. I live in the sycamore over there." She pointed at a tree near Orpheus's Cave.

I looked at the tree, and Annabeth, and thought for a second.

"So, Alura?" I asked.

"Mh-hmm?" She said.

"We're- um, we're looking for some people." I said. "Have you seen two people like us, you know, not mortals, come anywhere near this cave recently?"

Alura tilted her head, and pointed at Annabeth and me.

Annabeth sighed. "People besides the two of us?" She asked, exasperated.

Alura huffed. "Well, someone has an attitude. And I think I saw two people going inside the Cave a few hours ago. Or maybe- or maybe a few days ago. I'm not sure."

See, time is weird for dryads. They sleep so much, so days can seem like hours, or months like days, or years like months. I'm sure you get it.

"Are you sure they went in the Cave?" Annabeth asked.

"I know what I saw!" Alura said defensively. "One of them was younger, and he said, 'Take Me To The Altar of Coatlicue.' Or something like that. Then they went in, and they haven't come out yet."

As Annabeth opened her mouth to snipe at Alura, I put my hand on her arm. We were here to find a lost son of Hecate, not start an insult war with nature spirits. Besides, Grover would never forgive us if I let Annabeth attack Alura.

"Thank you, Alura." I said quickly. "We appreciate your help."

"Oh, I'm sure she does." Alura sniffed, before walking away and literally fading away into her sycamore tree home.

"I don't like dryads." Annabeth muttered.

"You like Juniper." I said, confused.

"Yeah, because she's nice and doesn't really act like a dryad at all." Annabeth explained. "Most dryads are just so disconnected from the world and its irritating."

"Who's Coatal- whatever?" I asked, trying to change the subject.

"Coatlicue." Annabeth answered carefully. "If I'm not mistaken, she was an Aztec earth goddess."

"Could she be one of those primordial things?" I asked, not at all surprised that my braniac (yet awesome) girlfriend knew about some random Aztec gods.

"It's possible, but you know what that would mean?" Annabeth answered a question with another question.

"I don't know but I have a feeling you're about to tell me." I responded.

"That the Aztec gods are real, too." Annabeth explained.

My head started hurting. I had had enough trouble remembering all of the Greek gods and their Roman names, but now I knew that Egyptian and Norse gods were running around the modern world, too. Now I had to worry about Aztec gods.

"Awesome." I said, rubbing my temples. "What do we do now?"

Annabeth shrugged. "I guess we go in after them." She said, leading me towards Orpheus' Cave.

"Well, this should be good." I groaned, following Annabeth.

…

As we approached Orpheus's Door, a thought occurred to me in a moment of rare brilliance. I know. Thinking and great ideas are usually more Annabeth's thing. I don't even know how I even thought of this.

"What if Orpheus's Door is like the Room of Requirement?" I asked aloud. "You know, from _Harry Potter_?"

Annabeth tilted her head. "What do you mean?"

"Like, what if it usually is an entrance to the Underworld, but if you say the right words it becomes a door to somewhere else, like the altar thing?" I asked, hoping I was onto something.

Annabeth's eyes widened. "Percy, that's brilliant! Alura said that either Alabaster or Dr. Claymore said, 'Take Me To The Altar of Coatlicue'. That's it! That's how we go in after him."

I smiled. I didn't often come up with an idea so smart that it amazed my girlfriend, so I was basking in it.

"You wanna do the honors?" Annabeth asked, gesturing to Orpheus's Door.

"Oh no, I might've come up with the idea, but I can't pronounce the goddess's name." I argued.

Annabeth sighed. Oh well. So much for impressing her. Annabeth looked at the door and said loudly: "Take me to the altar of Coatlicue."

For a moment, nothing happened. I was about to break the news to my girlfriend that she couldn't pronounce the name of the Goddess either when the rock trembled liked it was caught in an earthquake and a rough passage appeared on the rock's side.

"Let's get this over with." Annabeth said reluctantly as we walked inside.

…

The tunnel smelled of dust. Cobwebs hung from the walls. I looked at Annabeth in concern. Being a daughter of Athena, spiders weren't really her thing.

"I'm fine." She said, gritting her teeth as we continued. On the walls, we saw crude drawings of stick men and giant faces in the sky, the sea, and on the ground. One picture we saw depicted a giant, terrifying snake devouring the sun.

Another displayed a warrior standing on a ledge on the ocean, facing a terrifying creature rising from the depths of the sea.

We passed a drawing depicting a blacked-out figure wiping out an ancient village. I shivered as I looked at the crude, familiar face that was drawn.

"Is that-"I started.

"Yep, that's Tartarus." Annabeth answered, looking scared with a faraway look in her eyes, as if remembering our time down there. "Let's just…keep going and find this guy."

I grabbed Annabeth's hand and we kept going. As we passed more and more drawings, I asked. "How old do you think these are?"

Annabeth shrugged. "Probably very old. Like maybe older than Ancient Greece or Egypt."

"But if it was before human civilization, who put these here?" I asked, confused. I was pretty sure I'd heard about three times how humanity was created out of clay by one god or another.

"No one knows." Annabeth answered. "Maybe there were people before humanity, before the gods."

"That's insane to think about." I said, my head hurting. "If there were people here before us, why don't we know about them?"

"History is written by the victors." Annabeth quoted. "If gods and humans wiped out some early civilization, maybe they destroyed all evidence of that civilization as one last insult, leaving them to be forgotten forever."

"That's terrifying." I said. Imagine an entire way of life, an entire world, and no one knowing a thing about it.

Wait, I could imagine it. That's my world.

"Yeah." Annabeth said, distracting. Greenish-blue light was coming from the end of the tunnel.

"You think that's our guy?" Annabeth asked.

"Probably." I agreed. We both quickened our pace for the end of the tunnel.

…

We walked into a circular chamber covered in more elaborate drawing. Torches lit with green fires hung from the walls, and a giant ceiling decorated with sleeping faces hung ominously above us.

In the center of the room, a boy in grey clothes with a bulletproof vest decorated in green symbols stood, chanting with his hands raised, a ball of energy in between them. It was definitely the source of the light. A man dressed in slacks and a nice shirt lay on the ground, unmoving.

I looked at Annabeth, and she seemed concerned.

I turned to the boy, and yelled, "Alabaster!" The boy dropped his hands, and turned to face us, his features twisted in a puzzled expression.

"Who are you two?" He asked, confused.

"Your mom sent us to find you." Annabeth explained, taking the lead. "My name is Annabeth Chase, daughter of Athena. This is my boyfriend, Percy, son of Poseidon." She said gesturing to me.

Alabaster's eyes flickered in recognition. His jaw tightened.

"What are you doing here?" I asked, feeling an impending sense of danger. I put my other hand in my pocket, gripping Riptide. "What happened to the doctor?" I asked, gesturing to Dr. Claymore.

"Well, Dr. Claymore agreed to share the power he got from my mother with me." Alabaster said, turning away from us and looking down at Claymore. "He gave up his life so that I could work my magic."

"What magic?" Annabeth asked, squeezing my hand. I uncapped Riptide as Alabaster swung around and screamed "_Incantare: Modus Impederant_!"

I froze, my sword in the air. I was stuck. I couldn't move. I tried to call out to Annabeth, who seemed to be facing a similar problem. I recognized Alabaster's Latin words. Impede motion. It was a spell.

"You guys must be wondering what's going on here." Alabaster guessed. "Or maybe you don't really care and you just wanna kill me. I don't really know. Or care. But don't worry yourselves into a frenzy. The spell will wear off soon. Just an insurance policy. I need to finish my other spell."

Alabaster walked over to us and looked me up and down, disdain in his eyes.

"I hated you for so long." Alabaster confessed, looking me in the eye. "For a while there, I wanted to kill you. But now I know the truth, and since Dr. Claymore is gone, I've been a little lonely. I'm glad you guys came."

Alabaster walked back to the ball of glowing energy, reaching his hand out to it.

"You see, after the Titan War and Gaea's Awakening, Dr. Claymore and I became curious. We wanted to know how many other pantheons of gods existed in the world. And we discovered that besides the Greeks and Romans, the Norse, Mesopotamian, Ancient Egyptian, and Aztec gods were real as well as countless others. We realized that every single myth and ancient story of the past held a grain of truth. But then we discovered some ancient writings that stated that the Olympians, the Titans and monsters, all of those old gods and creatures were all part of the same species. The race of Precursors. But who was before them?"

Alabaster turned to us and smiled. I felt my hands beginning to move. I gripped Riptide, hard. I hoped Alabaster wouldn't notice.

"So, without my mothers' knowledge, we looked and found ancient records of a group of primordial beings that existed before the gods. 12 of them, to be exact. Including Gaea, Ouranos, and Tartarus. Another primordial has surfaced recently as well. Apophis, the ancient chaos serpent of Egyptian myth. Most of the others are unaccounted for. Until Dr. Claymore and I found records of the First." Alabaster grinned mischievously.

I felt my legs beginning to move. Out of my peripheral vision, I saw Annabeth wiggling her index finger.

"Coatlicue, of Aztec myth." Alabaster explained, reaching both hands for the glowing orb of energy. "The Mother of the Gods, as she was once called. She was the first primordial, the first to be referred to as a god. And she rests in this chamber, in its very walls. I think its high time that she woke up."

As Alabaster started chanting more Latin, I broke free of his immobilization spell and launched myself at him, Riptide aimed at his back.

…

…

…To Be Continued?

* * *

Ha! I love cliffhangers. Anyways, if anyone with an account and an open PM reviews, I will send them a sneak peak into the next chapter if they want it.

Also, a note on the dryad Alura. I know she isn't in the books but I thought a dryad would be an interesting character to play with. She will probably return in a later chapter, so I hope you guys like her.

Thanks for reading, and see y'all next time!


	3. The Awakening

I know, I know. An early update. But honestly, I'm a couple of chapters ahead and it's much easier to release each chapter when they're ready than to wait once a week and post one chapter no matter how far ahead I am. Besides, sticking to dates isn't really my thing.

Also, just to clarify, when Coatlicue is called the Mother of Gods, it's in reference to other primordial gods, such as Gaea, Ouranos, Apophis, yada yada yada. Not mother of gods in reference to the Olympians and stuff.

Anywho, thanks to everyone who reviewed. Remember, if you review with an account and an open PM will get a preview of the next chapter. Also, to the person who asked if Nico will be involved in the story, congratulations, you guessed lucky at my plot. Yes, Nico will be really important to the story later on.

Anyways, enjoy!

* * *

Summary: After Alabaster, the son of Hecate, goes missing, the goddess asks Percy and Annabeth to go find him. But what they find may change their world forever. Sequel to Son of Magic by Haley Riordan.

Disclaimer: I don't own Percy Jackson or its characters, Rick Riordan does. I just own the storyline and any OC's that may pop up.

* * *

**The Awakening**

…

**Percy's POV**

As I started running towards Alabaster, he stopped chanting and faced me. I pointed my sword at his throat.

"Stop the spell!" I growled as I sensed Annabeth walking up behind me. She must've just broken free of the Immobilization spell.

Alabaster grinned. He pulled an index card out of his pocket and tapped it against his shirt. Suddenly an enormous Imperial Gold broadsword appeared in his hands. He swung my sword away from his head and we started swinging at each other.

As he barely matched each of my swings, I saw how out of practice he was. He was a son of Hecate, I realized. His weapon of choice was his magic, not a sword. He didn't stand a chance against me.

As we fought, Annabeth circled around Alabaster and drew her dagger that was once a magic wand, courtesy of Sadie Kane. She stabbed Alabaster in the leg, and he dropped his sword, grimacing in pain.

I whacked Alabaster's chest with the flat blade of Riptide, and he collapsed to his knees. I pushed my blade against his throat.

"Stop the spell!" I repeated through gritted teeth. Alabaster cackled.

"What's so funny?" Annabeth asked.

"Just stop it, Alabaster." I said, getting mad. I didn't want to kill the kid, but if it meant stopping some ancient goddess who would unleash chaos or war or anything (at least that's my experience with waking up ancient goddesses) then I would do what I had to do.

"I can't stop it." Alabaster said. "It's already too late. The spell has been active for hours. Already, the Mother of Gods is beginning to stir from her slumber." As he spoke, the chamber began shaking as dust fell from the ceiling. The torches flickered and then roared, flames shooting six feet into the air before slowly returning to normal. I pushed my sword closer to his neck, and a line of blood began pulsing out.

"Then what were you still chanting for?!" Annabeth demanded over the noise.

"Making a summoning spell for a sleeping primordial goddess is a lot harder than it sounds." Alabaster explained. "The spell is unstable. I was casting protective enchantments to prevent some nasty side affects."

"What side effects?!" I demanded in alarm.

"Oh, earthquakes, tsunamis, the dead rising, random temporal paradoxes, you know, the basics." Alabaster said cheerfully.

"Stop the spell!" I screamed, panicking. I didn't really understand what a temporal paradox was, but I didn't want to find out. Besides, this was supposed to be a simple godly errand (if there is such a thing), not a quest to save the world.

"Didn't you hear a word that I said?" Alabaster demanded. "The spell has already begun. I used Dr. Claymore's life energy to fuel it. It's like a train with no breaks. It can't be stopped!"

I looked at Annabeth in despair. After everything we had done, it seemed impossible to believe that this one kid had managed to jump start yet another Armageddon right under our noses. What could we do?

"So, you can't stop this thing?" I asked, turning to Alabaster.

Alabaster smirked. "As I've said a hundred times, nope. It can't be stopped."

"Well then, I've got no reason to keep you awake." I hit Alabaster over the head with the pommel of my sword, and he slumped to the ground, unconscious.

I walked to Annabeth's side as we glared at the pulsing ball of energy.

"What do we do?" I asked her.

"I don't know that there is anything we _can _do." Annabeth said hopelessly.

As we watched, the glowing ball exploded into light as I fell to the ground, unconscious.

"Annabeth." I muttered as I blacked out.

…

…

…

**Annabeth's POV**

As I came to, there was a burning taste in my mouth and my arm had gone numb. Probably from hitting the floor so hard. I heard someone, definitely a woman, singing in some language that was decidedly old and I had never heard before. I opened my eyes and struggled to my feet, my ears ringing.

I looked around and saw Alabaster still on the floor, unconscious, where we had left him. Dr. Claymore's body was laying not too far away. Percy was nowhere to be seen, and the glowing ball of light was gone.

The room was empty, but that woman's singing was coming from somewhere.

"Percy?!" I shouted in fear. Not again. First, Hera had made disappear for months before he eventually resurfaced at Camp Jupiter, with no memories. Now, he was gone again, and gods only knew where. No, even the gods probably had no clue where he was.

"Percy?!" I asked again in desperation, holding some far-flung hope that he could be nearby and was hearing me.

"I'm sorry, dear, but your friend cannot hear you." The woman's voice whispered menacingly, echoing through the chamber. Suddenly, a literal hole ripped into the air, emanating forest green light. A creature stepped out, and the hole disappeared, as if it was zipped close. It was like something out of one of those stupid monster Sci-fi movies that Percy loved, like a monster had just come out of a hole ripped through reality, with the other side connecting our world to another dimension.

The creature, who was the source of the woman's voice, I decided, looked hideous. Her skin was deathly pale, but where her should grew two huge snake's heads. Each one hissed and stared at me with unblinking eyes. Her dress was mode of hundreds of tiny hissing snakes, and she had feet that vaguely resembled crocodile feet. Her arms were left bare, with huge talons extending from her fingers.

"Who are you?!" I demanded, feeling around for my dagger. It must've fell somewhere after Percy and I got knocked out. I spotted it near Alabaster's leg. "Where is Percy?!" I demanded.

The creature tilted its head, and the two snakes retracted. Shivering in fear and disgust, I watched in horrifying fascination as a real head appeared in the place of two snakes. It was a beautiful woman's head, with long, dark hair, pale skin, red lips and glowing green reptilian eyes. She grinned.

"Your friend is long gone." The woman said. "He took my place so that I could return. Are you my followers? Did you bring me back?" The woman gazed at Annabeth in curiosity and glanced at the unconscious Alabaster.

"You're Coatlicue." I guessed. "The Mother of Gods?"

Coatlicue grinned. "The one and only. And I take it you aren't the one who summoned me."

"No." I said, angry. "It was that idiot over there." I gestured to Alabaster's unconscious form. "Now tell me, you old hag, where did you send my boyfriend?"

Coatlicue growled. The hairs on my arms raised. "I wouldn't worry about him." Coatlicue hissed. "I'd be more worried about yourself!" Coatlicue launched at me with inhuman speed, and we fell to the floor, wrestling. She scratched my face, and I screamed.

My hands scrambled over the ground, and I realized our tussle brought us near Claymore's body. My hand hit my dagger. I grabbed it and plunged the blade into Coatlicue's forearm. Coatlicue hissed and jumped off of me. I groaned, rolling onto my side. I watched as Coatlicue ripped my dagger out of her arm, ichor streaming from the wound.

"This isn't over!" She hissed, dropping my knife and disappearing into thin air.

I looked at the carnage around the room, the blast wave from Alabaster's spell, the ichor, Alabaster's unconscious body, my dagger on the ground, and the love of my life missing.

Gone.

"Percy?!" I called out one last time, knowing that he wasn't going to answer.

…

I sat in numb silence for what must've been hours. Suddenly, Alabaster began to stir. He pushed himself up to his knees.

"What happened?" Alabaster groaned, seeing me, his eyes looking dazed. "Did it work?"

I was angry. This boy might've just killed my boyfriend and unleashed an ancient goddess who was going to probably do something really bad.

I punched Alabaster in the face. He fell back to the ground, moaning, as I went over and took off his shoes, taking out his shoelaces and tying his arms in an unbreakable knot. Thank the gods that Arachne showed me a thing or two about weaving.

"What are you doing?!" Alabaster spluttered, spitting out blood.

"Getting answers." I said, slamming his head on the ground, knocking him back out. I used some of Dr. Claymore's shirt to bandage his leg wound, and I began the process of dragging him back to the surface.

…

A couple of hours later, I had Alabaster slumped against the rock outside of Orpheus's Cave, I had only gonna back to grab my dagger. Percy was nowhere.

As Alabaster started coughing and coming back to consciousness, I bent forward and put my knife at his throat.

"What happened to Percy?!" I demanded loudly. Night had fallen while we were down there. The sounds of Manhattan seemed so far away with the blood roaring in my ears.

"Is Coatlicue back?" Alabaster asked carefully.

"Yes!" I screamed. "Now what has she done with Percy?! Tell me!"

"It's complicated." Alabaster said through gritted teeth.

"Well, uncomplicate it!" I insisted.

Alabaster sighed. "The Titans were the ones who got rid of Coatlicue, on Kronos' orders. After they lulled her to sleep, they cast her consciousness into the past and trapped her there, using Kronos' power over time. I revived her body and summoned her consciousness from the past."

Alabaster paused, taking a deep breath. "But since I wasn't able to finish stabilizing the spell, I suspect that Percy and Coatlicue's consciousnesses exchanged places."

I stared daggers at Alabaster. "What does that mean?" I asked slowly, my heart climbing up my chest.

"Percy Jackson is trapped somewhere in the past, while Coatlicue is somewhere up here."

I stalked away from Alabaster and paced for a few minutes, trying to think. Percy was trapped in the past, but he was possible alive. Unless he got attacked by some prehistoric animal, or died from the time travel, or- No! I couldn't afford to think like that. Percy was alive. He had to be. I just had to get him back.

I walked back over to Alabaster.

"How do I get him back?" I demanded.

Alabaster shrugged. "I don't know."

"Alabaster, I'm three seconds away from taking this knife and sticking it in your throat!" I growled. "How do I get Percy back?"

Alabaster looked at me. "Coatlicue could probably bring him back. The only problem is she has no reason to. From her perspective, Percy just traded places with her and let her into the modern world. A sacrifice. Primordials gods love that sort of thing."

I sighed, thinking hard, my head hurting. "Alright, why didn't she kill us? Isn't she supposed to be all powerful, like Gaea and Tartarus?"

"She's not at full power." Alabaster explained. "It'll take some time for her power to regenerate, but once it does, she'll be unstoppable."

"And how long will it take for her power to come back?" I asked.

Alabaster shrugged. "No 'frickin clue. It isn't an exact science. It could be a few hours or a few days. Maybe a couple of weeks if you're lucky."

"Where did she go?" I asked venomously.

"I don't know!" Alabaster shouted in frustration. "She's not at full power, so I imagine she couldn't have gone far. I imagine she's still in this city."

"Right." I said. "So, optimistically, a few days to get Percy back and shove Coatlicue back where she came from. I've had worse odds."

"When?" Alabaster asked teasingly, chuckling. I smiled and punched him in the mouth.

"Owwww!" He complained, looking back up with blood in his teeth. "Would you stop doing that?!"

"No." I answered curtly, walking away. "I can't do this alone. I'm gonna need some help." I pulled out my phone and dialed a number, putting the phone to my ear and waiting for an answer.

"What are you doing?" Alabaster asked, curious.

"Calling my friend Butch." Annabeth answered. "We're going to Camp Half-Blood to get some reinforcements so we can clean up your mess and get my boyfriend back."

…

…

…

**Percy's POV**

I was so, so massively screwed.

About half an hour ago, I woke up in a field. That in itself wasn't all that unusual. I've woken up in stranger places.

What was unusual was that it was nighttime. I'm pretty sure it was daytime when we went inside Orpheus's Door. And the moon was bright yellow and much closer to Earth than I remembered it being. The stars were so bright, and dear gods there were so many of them.

I could've dealt with all of that and been fine with it. Accepted it and moved on to trying to find my way back to Annabeth.

Then a Pterodactyl- yes, a flying dinosaur- came down from the sky and tried to capture me with its huge talons.

As a I ducked down and ran towards a nearby forest, I heard a loud roar that I hoped wasn't a T Rex and sensed the squawking winged demon chasing me from the air, that was the moment I decided that I was screwed and probably wouldn't last a day here, wherever (or whenever) here was.

…

…

…To Be Continued?


	4. The Crisis

Well, I had planned on posting tomorrow or Saturday, but I just realized that season 7 of The Clone Wars comes out tomorrow, and I'll be incredibly busy watching it, so hoorah, another early update.

I'm not gonna lie, I'm terrible with release dates. Anywho, while I'm on the topic, who else is pumped for The Clone Wars? Who knows, maybe my next story will be a Clone Wars story.

I hope you guys enjoy. Let me know what you think about the chapter or the story as a whole in a review. Remember, everyone who reviews with an account will get a preview of the next chapter (if they want it). Also, to the The Nova 6, Congrats, you guessed one of the main plot points to this story. Yes, Nico is in here, and yes, he will be involved. I love it when you guys guess this stuff and get it right.

Read on :)

* * *

Summary: After Alabaster, the son of Hecate, goes missing, the goddess asks Percy and Annabeth to go find him. But what they find may change their world forever. Sequel to Son of Magic by Haley Riordan.

Disclaimer: I don't own Percy Jackson or its characters, Rick Riordan does. I just own the storyline and any OC's that may pop up.

* * *

**The Crisis**

…

**Annabeth's POV**

I couldn't believe it. He was gone, again. The chariot rocked, momentarily shaking me out of my thoughts. Butch, the son of Iris, goddess of the rainbow, tightened his hands on the reigns that two pegasi were attached to. We were standing at the front. The night sky was beautiful up here.

At our feet, Alabaster Torrington, son of Hecate, was wrapped in chains (courtesy of Butch) as opposed to the makeshift shoelace bounds I originally had him in. As a second thought, I'd had his mouth bound as well so he couldn't cast any spells.

He was ours. I frowned. I wondered how Hecate would take the news that instead of finding and rescuing her son, he had become my prisoner. I shook my head. A problem for another time.

Butch had called in a War Council meeting en route after picking up me and Alabaster. I was apprehensive about breaking the news to them. An ancient Aztec goddess had been unleashed on the world at the hands of this traitor.

And Percy Jackson was gone.

…

As we landed in the tetherball court next to the Big House, Damien White, counselor of the Nemesis cabin, ran over to us.

"We've been waiting for hours." He said breathlessly. "What's going on, Butch?" His eyes fell as Butch was unstrapping the pegasi, and he spotted Alabaster. "And who the heck is that?"

"I'll explain inside, to everyone." I promised. "Can you help us get him inside?"

…

As Damien and Butch dragged Alabaster into the War Council room, putting him back first in front of the fireplace, the mounted leopard Seymour looking down at him, growling, I surveyed the room.

The ping pong table was occupied by sleepy-looking demigods. Holly and Laurel, the twin counselors for the Nike cabin, were having a thumb war and getting increasingly agitated that neither of them could beat the other, probably due to their competitive natures inherited from their mother, the goddess of victory.

Lou Ellen, the head counselor of the Hecate cabin, and Alabaster's sister, eyed Alabaster with slight curiosity. Clovis, son of Hypnos, was snoring away. Sherman and Miranda, the counselors for Ares and Demeter, respectively, were holding hands on the table secretively, as if thinking that no one knew that they were dating.

My friend Nico, the son of Hades, was talking to his boyfriend Will, son of Apollo, with concern. He looked at me and mouthed, _Where's Percy?_ I held my hands out, insinuating that I was about to explain.

Alice, head counselor of the Hermes cabin, was trying to pick the pockets of Nyssa, the daughter of Hephaestus, who was too sleepy to notice. My brother Malcolm was staring at the Cheez Wiz and crackers we kept in here for Clarisse.

The camp oracle, Rachel Elizabeth Dare, fully restored to her powers, was picking at her sleeve, trying to pull a loose thread. I felt confident that I was about to cure her boredom.

Argus, our multi-eyed head of security, walked over and stood beside Alabaster, all eyes on him as Butch removed his gag. Alabaster looked at everyone in the room with distaste. Our centaur teacher, Chiron, was in his wheelchair, eyeing me with concern. As Butch and Damien took their seats, I cleared my throat.

"Alright guys," I said confidently. "I'm sure you're all wondering why I brought you here. It seems as if we have another crisis on our hands." I walked over to Alabaster and glared at him. "This idiot just brought back an ancient Aztec primordial goddess named Coatlicue, whose plans we know nothing about. And he sent Percy back into the times of the dinosaurs, maybe even further back."

As I expected, the room exploded into conversations and arguments. I heard the phrase "Who is Coatal-whatever?" several times, and I was reminded painfully of Percy. Seymour growled in distaste at the noise, and Chiron yelled "Silence!" As the room fell silent, our teacher looked at me with empathetic brown eyes. I suddenly felt comforted. Chiron would know what to do.

"Tell me what happened, child." Chiron said patiently.

I told the story of how Hecate came to Percy and I and asked her to find her missing, banished son Alabaster. I told of how we had tracked him to the Altar of Coatlicue, and how his summoning spell switched Coatlicue's and Percy's places. As I talked, I saw many demigods staring hatefully at Alabaster.

When I finished, the room was temporarily silenced. Then Damien asked quietly, "Who exactly IS Coatlicue?"

Chiron stroked his beard thoughtfully. "Coatlicue was one of the twelve primordial beings that existed long before the Olympians and before most of the Titans. Throughout history, she has been referred to as the Mother of Gods, because she was the first primordial. Their ruler. She was the one who gave birth to the rest. As Gaea and Ouranos's children, the Titans, came to power, my father Kronos deemed her too much of a threat to his power, until he decided to split her mind and body, trapping the former somewhere in the timeline, and her body at a secret altar known only to a few."

Chiron rolled forward to look at me and Alabaster. He faced Alabaster, and said "What have you done, boy?"

Alabaster, who had been hanging his head down the entire time, looked up, his face bloodied and unrecognizable from the damage Percy and I had done to him. He cackled, coughing up a little spit and blood on the floor.

"I used a binding spell to remove her body from the altar and put it back together." He gloated. "And then, I used a summoning spell to retrieve her mind from the past, putting her all back together, like Humpty Dumpty." He chuckled some more. "You're all doomed the minute she regains her full power. And assuming you survive her, you can rest easy knowing that I am going to burn this place to the ground."

The room waited in shocked silence as Chiron stared at the angry demigod.

"Why, brother?" Lou Ellen asked, dismayed. "Why would you do this?"

Alabaster turned and stared at Lou Ellen. He grinned at her. "I remember you. Our mother told me about you. Said you had taken my place as the leader of our siblings. That's good. Maybe you won't make the same mistakes I made."

"Answer the damn question!" Butch shouted, as Damien put his hands on Butch's chest, trying to calm him down.

"Because I hate you!" Alabaster growled. "All of you! I led my siblings to war with Luke Castellan, and when Typhon fell, and the Olympians slaughtered my siblings, none of you helped us. You chose our absentee parents over your own demigod brethren." Alabaster laughed evilly. "I'm going to love watching you all burn!"

Seymour growled, raising the hair on all of my arms.

"What does Coatlicue want?" I asked Alabaster. "What's she planning?"

Alabaster hung his head, still chuckling.

"She'll seek to revive the other primordials, her children, as soon as she has returned to full strength." Chiron guessed. "And then-"

"Then what?" Nico asked tentatively.

"Then she will return the Earth to its primordial state, completely cleaned of both gods and men." Chiron said, looking scared. "It'll be a world fit only for monsters to live in."

As the room fell silent, I looked at Chiron with hope.

"What do we do?" I asked. "How do we stop her and get Percy back?"

"Coatlicue should be able to bring back Percy." Chiron said. "It is only a matter of finding her, forcing her to do it, and sending her back where she came from before she can regain her strength. Miss Dare," He continued, turning to Rachel, "I think a quest is in order."

"I'm leading." I decided. Rachel looked at me and smiled.

"I don't think it should be any other way." She closed her eyes, already sitting down, and the fire dimmed down. Green smoke wreathed around her, and when her eyes opened, they were glowing a brilliant emerald color. She looked straight at me.

"_Daughter of wisdom, do not despair_

_The Son of Magic should beware_

_All his affairs stand doomed to fail_

_So long as the Sea's Heir remains locked in jail_

_The Mother of Gods will rise again_

_And a loved one lost you will regain."_

As Rachel hissed out those last lines of the prophecy, she collapsed and Butch and Damien caught her, laying her up against the wall. As they sat down, I felt all eyes in the room on me.

"Well, that was dramatic." Alabaster quipped.

"The 'Son of Magic' obviously refers to Alabaster." Lou Ellen said. "I guess that means he's still important."

"I'm afraid, Mr. Torrington, that you won't be around to see the camp burn." Chiron said. "It appears that you'll be accompanying Ms. Chase on her quest, in bonds, so that you can't use your magic to kill her."

Alabaster snarled. "I'm not going."

"You don't really get to decide." I said, relishing the news that I would get to torture him but reluctant on the idea of coming along. I wasn't worried about him killing me. I was sure that I could handle him. But what if he helped Coatlicue to win?

"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Miranda asked, clearly having the same line of thought that I was having.

"You heard the prophecy." Butch said. "As long as Percy is trapped in the past, anything he does won't work, including helping Coatlicue."

"And escaping." I added, shooting Alabaster a look that said _If you try to run away, I will skewer you_.

"Well, Ms. Chase, it appears that you will need one more hero to join your quest." Chiron continued the conversation. "Who should it be?"

I looked around the room, thinking. If only Piper or Leo or Grover were here. I really could use a familiar face. Then my eyes fell upon Nico.

"Nico?" I asked. Everyone looked at him. I didn't want to do this, to snatch him away from Will, but I needed him. "I could really use your help."

Nico looked at Will, as if having a silent conversation. It was like the two of them were in their own little world. Will eventually nodded his head grudgingly.

"I could I turn down an old friend?" Nico asked, smiling and getting to his feet.

"How will you guys find Coatlicue?" Sherman asked.

We looked at Chiron, who stroked his beard, as if in deep thought. Then he looked at Alabaster, and then at Lou Ellen, as if realizing something.

"Lou, could you come here for a moment, dear?" Chiron asked. Alabaster watched suspiciously as his sister walked to Chiron's side and he whispered in her ear. Lou Ellen grinned, and walked over to Alabaster, putting a hand on his shoulder.

"Get off me!" Alabaster protested as Butch stood up, ready to defend her.

"_Incantare: Viam Invenire_." Lou Ellen whispered, and Alabaster's face went pale, as his body slowly started pointing east.

"What did you do to me?" Alabaster demanded.

"You summoned her." Lou Ellen explained as we all watched gleefully. "You and her are linked. So I attached a tracking spell on you that'll lead Annabeth and Nico straight to her. And the best part? You'll get to lose the chains. My tracking spell renders your magic unusable until Coatlicue is within five feet of you. I've reduced you to a glorified compass. Enjoy!" Lou patted him on the head, giving him a mocking sad face as rage filled his eyes.

As Lou Ellen strutted back to her seat, Sherman muttered to Miranda, "Remind me not to get on her bad side."

"Great." I said. "Now we can find her. We're one step closer to getting Percy back."

I looked at Alabaster and Nico. We weren't the dream team, but maybe the three of us could fix this mess.

Nico looked at Will, then looked at me and asked, "When do we start?"

…

**Alabaster's POV**

Those losers locked me in the infirmary, so that the Apollo kid from the war council could treat my wounds and get me prepared for tomorrow.

Annabeth Chase had decided that we would leave tomorrow, so that Nico could get rest. Honestly, with the bags under his eyes, it looked as if that guy never rested.

Will had muttered to me as he was bandaging my face, "If you do anything to either of them, I will find you and I will put an arrow through your face". Honestly, after seeing the way he and Nico had been acting around each other, I believed him.

I needed to sleep. I wasn't looking forward to tomorrow. An insurmountable feeling of guilt had built up in my gut. I had spent the last two years telling myself I wanted to kill Percy Jackson for the way he'd gotten rid of Kronos and helped lead to the defeat of our army and the deaths of my siblings. I had blamed those deaths on him for so long. But now that he was gone, I felt guilty. Who knew killing or conspiring to lead events that would kill someone would be so hard? I thought I was ready, but I guess I wasn't.

As these thoughts whirled through my head, I passed out from the day's events.

…

I found myself in my mother's house. I was in front of the pastor's podium. My mother stood behind it, glaring at me, green energy and mist swirling around the room.

"Alabaster." She growled. She looked pissed.

"Hi, mom." I said, fear climbing up my throat.

"You resurrected Coatlicue, the Mother of Gods." Hecate accused me. "You killed Dr. Claymore, after I brought him back for your sake. And now you have allowed yourself to be captured. You realize I can't save you now, even if I wanted to. If Coatlicue succeeds, she will kill you to prevent herself from being sent back. If Annabeth Chase's quest to stop her succeeds, the Olympians will kill you. You have doomed yourself."

"I know, mom." I confessed, that guilt from earlier climbing through my head. "I- I messed up. But I can fix this."

"Good." Hecate said, glaring disdainfully at me. "I hope you do, Alabaster. But until then, I will not communicate with you. You are on your own."

"But, mom-"

"NO! You have brought back a creature that will not rest until all gods, myself included, is dead. YOU DID THAT! You condemned your own mother to be destroyed, to be atomized. Your mess. You clean it up!" And with that, mom whirled her hand, and I was slung from the podium and out the church door, as if a rope had been tied around my waist and used to drag me out of the House of Hecate.

…

I woke up in a puddle of sweat. My heart was pounding.

My mother had just disowned me. I used up Howard Claymore's life energy to bring back Coatlicue.

I was surrounded by enemies, and I was truly alone.

What had I done?

…

…

…To Be Continued?


	5. The Escape

New update! Yay (hopefully)!

Anywho, for those of you who are worried about Percy, he'll be the star of the next chapter. And his predicament isn't exactly like you'd think.

I'd also like to thank everyone who's favorited and followed this story. Please review. Remember, if you review with an account and an open PM, you'll get a sneak peak of the next chapter.

On with the show. Enjoy, and tell me what you think in the reviews.

* * *

Summary: After Alabaster, the son of Hecate, goes missing, the goddess asks Percy and Annabeth to go find him. But what they find may change their world forever. Sequel to Son of Magic by Haley Riordan.

Disclaimer: I don't own Percy Jackson or its characters, Rick Riordan does. I just own the storyline and any OC's that may pop up.

* * *

**The Escape**

…

**Alabaster's POV**

I watched as the guy covered in eyes pulled up on Farm Road in a van that had the logo _Delphi Strawberries _on the side. Annabeth and Nico were talking to Chiron and Will Solace up on Half-Blood Hill behind me.

My restraints had been removed. Thanks to my sister and the tracking spell she put on me, my powers weren't working. Until we got close to Coatlicue, I couldn't use my magic. Hatred was flowing through me.

Speak of the devil. My sister, Lou Ellen, descended from Half-Blood Hill and approached me.

"Hey, sis." I said sarcastically. "Come to embarrass me some more?"

Lou Ellen smiled patiently at me. "Looks like you're doing just fine on your own." She retorted back playfully.

I snarled. "What do you want?"

She looked me in the eye. "I had a dream last night. Mom was in it. I saw what happened."

I looked down, fighting the tears.

"You heard that Hecate basically disowned me?" I finally asked. "So what?"

Lou Ellen grabbed my chin and pulled my face up to hers. "So, it doesn't matter. Look, Alabaster, one in every ten demigods has been right where you are now. Our parents only come to us when its useful to them, only help us when it's helpful for them. But that doesn't mean we're alone."

I pulled away, growling. "So what, you want me to move in here? Become a camper and sing kumbaya by the campfire at night? Tell ya what, if I did, we'd be roomies in the Hecate Cabin, right? Which bunk would I have, top or bottom?"

Lou Ellen sighed, looking down, and then faced me once more. "Alabaster, I'm not going to try and dissuade you from vengeance. Only you can make that decision for yourself. But I do want you to know that since the Titan War, the children of magic are mostly reunited. Every time a new child of Hecate climbs that hill," with this she turned and pointed to Half-Blood Hill, before turning again and dropping her hand, "they're welcomed with open arms. With camaraderie. We're family, you and I. Just like our other brothers and sisters. And we are all welcome here, to practice our magic, to defend ourselves. At Camp Half-Blood we are honored and respected, just like Percy and Annabeth and Nico and Will and every other Camper. And are our parents perfect? No, not by a long shot. But that is exactly why we need each other. Why we need family."

Lou Ellen paused, and sighed, looking at me impassively. "Look, brother, I know I can't convince you with just words. This is your chance. To be part of a family, to protect the Children of Magic the way you really want to. The right way. To be the hero I already think you are."

I looked at her, guilt and pain conflicting throughout me. "You don't even know who I am. What all I've done."

Lou Ellen smiled, as if happy to know something I don't. "I know exactly who you are." She said, digging her finger into my chest, pointing at my heart. "I know who you are here. You're a hero, just like the rest of us. You just have to decide what you want to do. D'you wanna keep pretending you're some cliched villain, or do you want to show the world what kind of person you really are."

Lou Ellen walked away, and I was left with shame for what I have done. I killed Howard Claymore, my only friend. I brought back Coatlicue, and I may have killed Percy Jackson, a demigod who had rejected immortality, who had put his own life at risk to demand amnesty for me and my fellow soldiers in the Titan War, an amnesty that I rejected, instead choosing the path of war.

What I had done?

…

As we drove down Montauk Highway in the van, with Annabeth driving and Nico messing with the radio (alternating between Panic! At The Disco and Blues Saraceno), I felt my body starting to tilt to the right, uncontrollably.

I sighed. "Um, since I'm basically your human compass, I guess I should let you know that you need to be going further south, towards the city." Nico turned back to me, watching me suspiciously. I mockingly smiled. "What? I'm your quest mate now, right? Or whatever we wanna call ourselves? The 'Find Percy' Team? Or the 'Stop Coatlicue' Crew? Or, even better, the "Set Alabaster Free'-".

"Alright, enough." Annabeth interrupted. "Are you sure we need to be going into the city?" I remained silent. Nico, who had been looking at Annabeth for guidance, turned back at me and I fake frowned.

"What?" Asked an exasperated Nico.

"She interrupted me." I complained, then started giggling like a lunatic.

"You're insane." Nico decided, turning face forwards. "But I trust Lou Ellen, and you're leaning south anyways. Guess we're going into the city."

"Thank you," I mocked, putting my hand on my chest. "For your endearing trust. I already feel like part of the family. In fact, I have a fantastic idea. If we live long enough to wrap this up, how's about we establish Thursday as family game nights?"

The car was deeply silent, and for a second I was afraid I had laid it on a little too thick with the sarcasm. If they decided to turn around and take me back, and go after Coatlicue alone, I would never get to use my magic again.

"You know," Annabeth said, breaking the silence. "I once had a good friend that you remind me of. Well, he was more than just a good friend. For a while, I had a crush on him. Then, on the day he died, I finally accepted him as a brother. But he was always family, and I tried so hard so many times to save him, and I failed."

"You fail at saving people a lot, don't you?" I shrugged, putting on as much of an evil smile as I could muster. Nico gave me a warning glace, his Stygian Iron sword in his lap. Annabeth continued as if nothing had happened.

"You act just like him." She said, her eyes misting over. "The sarcasm, the attitude, the insatiable need for vengeance. But on the day he died, he confessed he was wrong. That everything he had done for revenge was a mistake. I just hope you have the same realization before that happens to you."

For half an hour, I let the silence drag on, the shame Lou Ellen had made me feel rising once again to the forefront. After a while, curiosity had burned its way through my mouth.

"Who was the friend?" I asked sincerely. As we pulled up to a red traffic light, Annabeth briefly turned and answered my question.

"Your old leader, Luke Castellan."

…

As we were driving through the city, being caught by every traffic light as I gave directions as best as I could to Annabeth, I grew tired of listening to Nico humming 'I Write Sins Not Tragedies', and I became curious about something else.

"Why did you and Percy even agree to help Hecate find me?" I asked Annabeth.

Annabeth sighed. "For a minute, I thought Percy and I would reject her offer. After all, we had agreed, no more quests. After our friend Jason passed," at this Nico looked down, and I realized whoever this Jason guy was must've been close with the both of them. Annabeth hesitated. "After Jason, we- I um- we just couldn't do it anymore. So we agreed, no more quests. Retirement was the path we had chosen."

"Wait, demigods can retire?" I asked incredulously.

"We did." Annabeth said, frowning at me. "Now who's interrupting?"

Before I could get in a snarky (yet witty) response, Annabeth continued on with the story anyways.

"But when your mom asked for our help, I don't think Percy could resist. After all, we thought a demigod was in peril, and I don't think he was handling retirement very well anyways. So we put our retirement plans on hold, and went to find and rescue you. And now, here we are."

After a beat or two, she muttered under her breath. "This is where our mistake has brought us."

I flushed with shame and anger. Percy Jackson, not knowing anything about me, had come to rescue me. The guy who was responsible for my side losing the Titan War. Something told me that even if he had known who I really was, he would have come to help me. But I didn't ask for his help. No one made him be a hero. His choices were his own.

"You know," I said. "I had met Percy before. Before the two of you came down to the Altar."

Nico and Annabeth looked at each other, and then both looked at me.

"What in Hades are you talking about?" Nico asked, confused.

I sighed. "I was on the _Princess Andromeda_ that day, the day he and the other one came and blew it up." I explained. "I would've been just a little kid in his eyes, but he met me in a hallway while he was running from our monsters. He told me to get off the ship, that something was about to happen. Because he warned me, I was able to conjure a protective enchantment and I survived the explosion."

A shocked silence followed.

"If Percy had saved your life, how could you have done this to him?!" Annabeth demanded viciously.

"Because I didn't know his name when I saw him on the ship." I confessed. "Of course, I had always heard about Percy Jackson, the Son of Poseidon, the Hero of Olympus, but I had never seen him in person before, not until you guys came down the Altar after me. That is when I made the connection."

Before more silence and/or yelling could commence, I added: "Weren't you wondering why I didn't just kill you guys with magic right when got down there? It would've been much easier. But as soon as I saw Percy, and recognized him, I couldn't bring myself to kill him."

…

As we rolled up in the parking lot of the Plaza Hotel, Annabeth sighed.

"She's here." I said, sensing that Lou Ellen's tracking spell was getting weaker the closer we got to her.

"Of course she is." Annabeth said, putting the van in park and undoing her seatbelt. So safety conscious. "I hate this place."

"Why?" I asked, undoing my own seatbelt as we got out of the van and Nico locked it. "I thought this place was one of Camp Half-Blood's base of operations during the Battle of Manhattan?"

"It was." Nico answered, joining Annabeth and I as we stared at the Plaza Hotel.

"The last time I was here, I was dying." Annabeth explained, pulling a knife from her inside jacket pocket. "I had taken an injury protecting Percy on the Williamsburg Bridge. If it hadn't been for Will, I would have died here."

I looked at Nico, and his face was flushed with pride. We started walking through the parking lot towards the front door.

"So are we just going in with no plan of attack?" Nico asked, drawing that dark sword of his from its scabbard.

"Nico, when have any of our plans actually worked the way they were supposed to?" Annabeth asked. "We're doing this Percy Jackson style."

"Oh." Nico said, shrugging. "Simple. I like it."

"What does all of that mean?" I asked, curious.

"That our plan of attack is to simply attack." Nico explained as Annabeth took the lead. "When the attack inevitably fails, improvise. That's how Percy likes to do things."

"Well, this oughta be fun." I remarked, feeling the tracking spell getting weaker and weaker as we got close to those doors. Come on, I thought pleadingly. Let my magic come back. Just because I might regret bringing Coatlicue back just a little bit doesn't mean that I want to die fighting her.

Suddenly, Nico yanked Annabeth and I behind a nearby car. "Get down!" He hissed, as I suddenly saw an empousa disguised as a schoolgirl walk past us, sniffing. The monster frowned, and then continued on.

"Looks like Coatlicue has recruited some muscle." I whispered fervently.

"How?" Annabeth demanded. "It's been a day."

I shrugged. "Word travels fast." Suddenly, I felt as if a rope that had been tied onto me all day had snapped. The Sigils on my clothes started glowing green. I looked back up to see Nico and Annabeth staring at me with horror. I smiled. We must have been close enough to Coatlicue for Lou Ellen's tracking spell to dissolve. I had my magic back.

"Looks like I'm a free man." I hissed smugly, jumping up before they could catch me. I started to run back into the parking lot when I saw a squad of Dracaenae, dragon women, sniffing around the Camp van. Nico and Annabeth drew their weapons and faced me.

I smile victoriously. I had one option. Reveal them and maybe I would survive this. After all, I'm the one who brought Coatlicue back. Perhaps she would spare me.

"Over here!" I shouted, waving my arms at the monsters as Annabeth and Nico came running towards me. "The demigod fugitives are over here!"

…

…

…To Be Continued?


	6. The Limbo Dimension

**Wilson: **Welp, new update. This is one of the longest chapters I've ever written for a fanfiction, and this was also one of my favorites to write. Originally, my story had Percy transported to the Jurassic era, but after re-reading an older fanfiction that I never posted that was about the Limbo Dimension, I decided to rewrite the story and have Percy transported there. Keep in mind that Rivan and his/her people are based on the myth that humanity started off with four arms and both genders before Zeus decided that this branch of humanity was too powerful, leading to his decision to literally split humans in half, leading to the term find my better half, or my other half, etc.

Reviews are greatly appreciated, and remember anyone who reviews with an account will get a clip from the next chapter.

Enjoy! :)

* * *

Summary: After Alabaster, the son of Hecate, goes missing, the goddess asks Percy and Annabeth to go find him. But what they find may change their world forever. Sequel to Son of Magic by Haley Riordan.

Disclaimer: I don't own Percy Jackson or its characters, Rick Riordan does. I just own the storyline and any OC's that may pop up.

* * *

**The Limbo Dimension**

…

**Percy's POV**

I was so tired of running. First, I had encountered those dinosaurs when I arrived here, wherever here is. And then, after I finally managed to escape the T Rex and Pteradactyl, I found myself wandering through a jungle filled with snakes and spiders and wolves and other creatures who wandered around. Night and day were passing by at abnormal times, and I was no longer sure how long it had been since I had been fighting Alabaster with Annabeth.

Strangely enough, I was not hungry or thirsty. Also, as physically exhausted as I was, I felt no need to sleep. And other bodily needs were no longer necessary. Where in Hades had Alabaster sent me?

I was certain that it was that punk kid who had sent me here. His summoning spell for Coatal-whatever must've worked. I was scared. What if the goddess had killed Annabeth? Not knowing what has happening back in my world, in my time, was driving me insane.

And these were the thoughts that bounced around in my head, over and over and over again as I wandered through the jungle. I had no clue where I was headed, but I hoped that somehow Annabeth, if she was alive (Don't think like that, Percy!) would find a way to bring me back and kick that goddess's heiny.

At night, I would stop and light a fire in the hopes that it would keep the creatures away. I couldn't exactly see where I was going anyways, and I was trying and successfully managing to stay the same course. I think I was headed East. I couldn't be sure, because the sun and moon rose in different spots every day, something that I had been told by both gods and science was supposed to be impossible. Every once in a while, I would hear tree limbs snapping and the growling of some mysterious predator. I think it was following me.

Every time I heard or sensed that creature's movements, I would uncap Riptide and the racket would die down.

Until one night, the creature grew brave enough to strike anyways.

…

The fire I had lit that night was warming my face. Suddenly, I heard the tell-tale signs of movements. Leaves crackling, tree limbs snapping. I jumped off the log I had been sitting on and uncapped Riptide. The familiar weight of the Celestial Bronze sword brough me comfort.

I looked around, searching the forest around me. The noise had stopped. For a second, I felt assured that I had successfully driven the creature away.

And then an enormous cat leaped at me from the shadows, its tan fur glowing in the firelight. It was a sabre toothed tiger.

I struck it with the flat side of Riptide, and it went spiraling onto the other side of the fire.

"What the hell?" I muttered.

The tiger leapt to its feet and started pacing around the fire, snapping its mouth at me and growling. It studied me with intelligent eyes.

I kept Riptide pointed at it, the fire between it and I.

"I don't think I'm gonna keep just calling you tiger." I said to it, pretty sure it couldn't understand a word that I was saying. "I'm gonna call you George." The tiger snarled at me, licking his chops.

"Okay, you don't like George." I said, rolling my eyes in annoyance. "Sabre toothed tigers, so impossible to please these days. I could always call you, um, mhmm, give me a second. I know, your name is gonna be Hector. Hector the saber-toothed tiger. I like it."

The tiger growled, and stopped moving, his fur rising up. As I realized what it was about to do, the tiger leaped over the flames and jumped at me, as I raised Riptide to defend myself. My sword pierced its torso as its razor sharp claws raked across my biceps. We fell to the ground, the tiger's weight crushing me from the top.

The tiger was dead. As I struggled to push it off of me, my arm was in searing pain. It had torn through my hoodie and left four deep gashes in my arm. I finally got the tiger off of me. I clutched my arm, and ripped of my hoodie, leaving me in just my t-shirt, I used pieces of my hoodie to bandage the wound, storing the rest of it in my pockets as best I could.

As I started stumbling away from the fire and the dead tiger, I realized I was dazed. How much blood had I lost? I looked down at the soaking remains of my hoodie wrapped around my arm, and I laughed madly, realizing I couldn't feel it anymore.

I don't know how long I had been wandering around. It could've been days, hours, minutes, seconds. Eventually, I stumbled over a fallen tree and fell to the ground.

"How did that get there?" I asked aloud, giggling. My words seemed to echo around my head over and over again. I heard the sounds of limbs snapping and something heavy walking in my direction. Maybe I was mistaken, and Hector survived and come back for round two? Or maybe Hector had friends?

I tried to get back on my feet, but I ended up collapsing again. As I felt myself blacking out, I heard voices. Human voices. That should be impossible. They were even speaking English. What the hell? Where was I?

I passed out looking at a large bearded man with a spear and a kind smile staring down at me.

…

I woke up several times in what felt like hours. One second I'd be awake, aware that my hoodie had been stripped away and the sleeve of my Jets t-shirt had been cut away, leaving my left arm, the one Hector had ripped apart, bare.

I saw a pair of careful, delicate hands dripping water onto my arm from a rag, and I looked to see who those hands belonged to and found myself looking at a woman with four arms. In all honesty, not the strangest thing I've ever seen. Not even in the top ten.

But it still kinda freaked me, and I passed again before I could ask her.

…

I woke up again in immense pain. I looked back at my arm, and found it being bandaged by much larger hands that somehow maintained the same delicacy as the woman's hands before. I looked at the owner of those hands, and once again felt myself staring at a four-armed person. It was the same bearded man I had seen when I passed out in the forest.

But somehow, he had the same face as the woman from earlier.

Suddenly, clarity cleared my hand, and I jumped up in the bed I was in and found myself in a massive room. Like, the roof was 12 feet tall. The bed I was in was about the size of two queen mattresses put together. The sheets were simple white cloth, and the floors, walls and ceiling were brown wood, stained with age. A cheerful fire crackled in a fireplace in front of the bed. Other than that, the room was bare.

The four-armed man stood. He was at least eight feet tall. His eyes were of a golden hue. His arms themselves were normal-sized, smaller but muscled. Otherwise, he looked human.

"Who are you?" I asked. My blood was rushing. I felt my jeans and found Riptide.

The man- wait, what?- suddenly he wasn't a he anymore. The beard had subtly retracted, and he became the woman I from before.

"What are you?" I corrected myself, deciding to wait until I drew my sword. After all, this thing had just nursed me back to health.

The man- sorry, woman- smiled. "My name is Rivan. I am human, if that is what you are wondering."

"I've never seen someone like you call themselves human." I confessed, feeling confused and checking myself. Nope, two arms. "What, did someone do this to you?"

"No, I was born like this." Rivan answered, laughing. "We all were. We were the first humans, what your earliest ancestors called the Ancients. We were each both male and female. We built the world's first civilization, the Illirean Empire, on the continents of Laurasia and Gondwanaland, formed from the remains of Pangaea."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, stop." I said, cradling my head. It was throbbing. "Just stop for a sec. Where am I? And who is we?"

Rivan held up his- her- gah! Rivan held up their hands, all four of them, and smiled gently. "Just calm down, Mr. Jackson. All of it will come in time. We should have a little while until the next attack, and I thought it best to break it to you slowly, after you had healed from your injuries."

"Wait a minute, attack?" I asked, alarmed. "What attack?"

Rivan smiled. "You're full of questions, aren't you? You can relax, Perseus, we will get there. Let's go for a walk, shall we?" She held up one of her hands, and I took it as she pulled me out of the bed. I found my sneakers next to the bed, and I put them on. She led me to the door, and we opened to find ourselves staring at a street full of houses like this one, with daylight streaming above us.

"Welcome, Percy Jackson, to the Limbo Dimension." Rivan said.

…

"The Limbo Dimension?" I asked, confused. "And how do you know who I am?"

Rivan laughed. "I suppose its normal for you to be curious. After all, your race inherited that particular trait from us."

"My race?" I asked, confused as we started walking down the street.

"Your particular breed of humanity." Rivan explained, walking at a much faster pace than me. I was struggling to keep up. I explored my arm and found that it was heavily bandaged.

"The tiger had made the unfortunate mistake of eating a highly venomous snake hours before attacking you." Rivan said, noticing me picking at the wound. "Some residue of its venom leaked from the tiger's claws onto your arm, weakening you. We found you just in time."

"How did you guys find me?" I asked.

"We felt Coatlicueleave after hearing someone chanting." Rivan explained.

"Alabaster." I growled.

"I guess." Rivan said. "And when she left, we sensed your arrival. We went to find you at your entry point, but you had gone. We saw the dinosaur tracks and followed you."

I shook my head, mystified. "What is this place, exactly?"

Rivan stopped, and looked at me, smiling warmly. "That's a complex question, as is the answer that goes with it."

"Try and dumb it down." I said pleadingly.

Rivan laughed. "I'll do my best, Mr. Jackson. You see, the Titan Lord Kronos is credited for imprisoning Coatlicue in the past. But neither of those statements are true. You see, MY people are responsible for trapping Coatlicue here. After all, she was once one of us. And we aren't in the past. We are in a sort of branch reality, an alternate dimension."

"What?" I asked, caught off guard. "I thought Coatlicue was a goddess or Primordial or whatever."

"No." Rivan explained carefully. "The Mother of Gods was once very human, like us, human, though, not human like you." He added, clarifying.

"I'm only half human." I reminded Rivan.

"Of course, Mr. Jackson." Rivan amended her/himself. "Where was I? Oh yes. Coatlicue was one of us, but our variety of human had much longer lifespans than yours. Coatlicue began experimenting on herself, eventually succeeding in turning herself into an all-powerful, mutated creature. Then she took her children, and performed experiments on them, syncing them to the natural elements of the world. Earth, the sky, the sea, chaos. Eventually, some of them would have children of their own, and so on and so on, creating the-"

"The gods." I realized. "All of those primordial gods and things, and their descendants, like the Titans, the other gods, they all started with her."

Rivan smiled. "Exactly, Mr. Jackson. That is why she is called the 'Mother of Gods'. She was their first."

"If you guys were first," I asked. "Who created you?"

Rivan frowned. "That is a very interesting question, for another time."

"If Coalticue is the one that started it all, why have the Olympians never mentioned her?" I asked. "Or some friends of mine know Egyptian gods, and they've never mentioned any of this. And my girlfriend's cousin, Magnus, he's a Norse demigod, and he has never mentioned her."

"Percy, those gods are all relatively young in comparison to us and Coalticue." Rivan said, walking forward. I followed him, curious.

"Odds are they don't even remember us." Rivan said. "You see, we built this branch reality, this dimension where time is meaningless, as a prison for Coatlicue's mind, trapping her body in an altar where many of my kind had worshipped her. But then the Earth Mother, Coatlicue's own daughter Gaea, and her children the Titans, wiped out my kind. They leveled our cities, splitting the continents and erasing any evidence of our existence, and trapped the rest of us survivors in here with the Mother of Gods, as a last joke. You see, we built our own prison."

"I've met Gaea." I said. "Not a fan. Why did they attack you?"

"I think they became scared of us." Rivan said. "After all, we were powerful. Much more powerful than our younger descendants would become. Our strength frightened those young Titans and Coatlicue's brood. They wanted to prevent us from becoming a threat. Later, they would retrieve two of us and remake a much weaker version of us, the human race you know of in your time."

"How do you know all of this?" I asked. "How do you know who I am? How are we even speaking the same language?"

Rivan chuckled darkly. "A particular type of torture, courtesy of the Mother of Gods. You see, when we arrived, she was angry at us for imprisoning her here. She blamed us for the state the world had gone into, because she could still see it. She could still see the future; she was still omnipotent. So as one of our many punishments, she would give us her visions of the future, the present and the past of the real world away from here, making us watch as the world escalated into chaos and violence and war. And we saw you, fighting Titans, and giants and gods. She foresaw that you would one day be here, walking amongst us, a man from the future of our real home. While we watched, many of us learned the developing languages of the evolving world."

As we walked, I noticed many of the buildings were damaged. I saw that many of the four-armed people were hurt or injured.

"What happened here?"

Rivan noticed what I was looking at. "Oh, yes, those are the results of the attacks you were asking about earlier. I suppose another one happened while I was out looking for you."

"Who is attacking?" I asked cautiously. What had I walked into?

"That is an easy question." Rivan said. "While Coatlicue's body didn't exist here, that doesn't mean she was powerless to punish us physically. You see, we can die in here, but we don't die permanently. She created a monster to attack and kill us all one by one, slowly and painfully, and when came back and rebuilt our homes, stronger than before, to stand against the monster, she'd kill us again and again and again. Over and over."

"What kind of monster?" I asked, afraid.

"It is called Nidhogg. A version of it exists in your world, albeit less powerful, but the first one is here." Rivan said.

Finally, we stopped walking, surveying the town, and the wildlands and forests and rivers that existed beyond its borders.

"Rivan, do you know how to send me home?" I asked optimistically.

"I'm afraid not." Rivan said. "Coatlicue could pull you out, but she won't do that unless she is forced to, something that is highly unlikely for your friends to accomplish. I suppose the boy that pulled her out could fashion a similar spell for you, but it would take time that you might not have."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, Nidhogg will be here soon, Mr. Jackson." Rivan said. "And while my kind can't die permanently here, you can. So when Nidhogg attacks, and kills all of us, you included, I am afraid-"

"I'll be dead." I realized. "For good."

"I am sorry, Mr. Jackson." Rivan said. "I am working on a plan to hide you from the beast, but I don't know that he will not sense you."

I remained silent, absorbing everything I had just found out.

"Rivan?" I asked. "Tell me everything you know about that monster."

"Why?" Rivan asked, mystified.

"Because I guess I have to kill Nidhogg before Nidhogg kills me." I answered calmly, despite fear running through my entire body.

…

"Kill Nidhogg?" Rivan asked, shifting from female to male. "I don't know if that is possible."

"I don't know about that." I responded, uncapping Riptide. "I've fought worse."

"But we've tried that before." Rivan answered, looking at my sword nervously. "Just as we can't be permanently killed here, neither can he. Anytime we have managed to take down the beast, he simply regenerates moments later and goes back to killing us."

I thought, hard. "Well, if I can be killed for real here, maybe I'm also the only one that can kill him for real. And besides, Coatlicue isn't here to bring him back."

Rivan stroked his/her newly formed beard. "I suppose it's possible. What's your plan?"

I laughed. "Buddy, making plans isn't really my thing. I usually just attack until whatever I'm attacking stops."

Rivan looked at me nervously. "That's a dangerous way to live."

"I guess." I agreed. "It's usually a good way not to die, though."

Rivan tilted his head, thinking. "My people are not fighters. If we became involved, we would only get in the way. That means you would be alone. I'm sorry, Percy Jackson, but I cannot allow you to fight the beast."

Before I could respond, another of the four-armed people came running up to us.

"Rivan," Said the man/woman. He/she had their arm in a brace. Their left eye was black and swollen shut, and they seemed to have had a bloody nose.

"Trevor? What happened? Why are you still wounded?" Rivan asked, concerned. I recognized that concern. Rivan must've been a leader here. I've had that concern for the other half-bloods at Camp Half-Blood. I really missed everyone there. Gods, I really missed Annabeth.

"Nidhogg attacked last night while you and the others were gone." Trevor answered, eyeing me with curiosity. "But we have a problem. Nidhogg was acting erratic. He didn't kill all of us like normal, but the ones he did he ate."

Rivan gasped. "The beast has never eaten us before."

"And that's not the only problem." Trevor continued. "The ones he killed last night, they haven't come back."

"That's not possible." Rivan said, fear crackling through his/her voice.

"I'm sorry, Rivan." Trevor said remorsefully. "The beast couldn't be stopped. I couldn't save them. They're gone." Trevor put his hand on Rivan's shoulder, and after a moment walked away.

After another beat or two, Rivan said, "Coatlicue's departure must be affecting the creature. I'm afraid you are right, Mr. Jackson. Nidhogg has to be stopped. I will not allow more of my people to die."

Rivan turned to me, his/her golden eyes filled with fire. "You will fight the beast, Percy. And I will fight with you."

…

A few hours later, Rivan and I were being strapped in armor made from pine wood. It's been so long since I'd actually worn armor that I'd forgotten how heavy it was.

"What kind of monster is Nidhogg?" I asked Rivan as Trevor tightened the straps on my shoulders.

"I suppose he's a sort of dragon-dinosaur hybrid." Rivan answered carefully. "Coatlicue has a thing for reptiles, hence the other dinosaurs wandering around the dimension."

"I've fought dragons before." I informed him/her as Trevor left us in the town's courtyard to continue evacuating Rivan's people into the forest. "And what if those dinos go after your people?" I asked, nodding to the evacuation.

"The dinosaurs around here generally leave large crowds of us alone." Rivan said. "As for Nidhogg, believe me, you've never fought anything like him before."

Suddenly, a loud roar echoed. It was coming from something definitely bigger than that T-Rex from earlier. Trevor looked back at us with fear etched on his/her face.

"Was that-" I started.

"Nidhogg." Rivan confirmed, his/her face pale. "It's time. Remember, Percy Jackson, it isn't just our survival we are fighting for here. It's the survival of my people. I know that you don't really know us-"

"Dude, it's cool." I said, clapping Rivan on the shoulder. "I protect people. That's what I do. And if I get trapped here, or if I die here, well, I'll gladly do it knowing that I did my best to protect _your_ people."

Rivan looked at me with warmth, switching from male to female. "Thank you, Percy. I can see why you are considered one of the best heroes of your generation. You help people you don't even know."

Another roar echoed through the town. At first, I thought there were drums beating somewhere, and then I realized what the beating noise was.

"Does Nidhogg have wings?" I asked, newfound fear coursing through my veins. Everything is always worse when you add wings to it.

"Indeed, Mr. Jackson." Rivan responded. "He is here."

Suddenly, an enormous shadow blocked out the sun. As Nidhogg landed in the courtyard, I became intimidated by his immense size. He was definitely a dragon, with four large, muscled legs ending in talons, and a huge barbed tail. Enormous bat-like wings with spikes sprouted from his back, and giant spikes uprooted from his spine. He had the head of a tyrannosaurus rex, and he was red in color. He studied us with enormous, icy blue eyes filled with malice. Me and Rivan looked at each other, and Rivan nodded as gripped his/her spear as I uncapped Riptide. We charged at Nidhogg.

…

I'd love to tell you that we beat Nidhogg right then, and I went back home to my own world, to Annabeth, safe and sound.

But of course, that just didn't happen.

Nidhogg, who thankfully couldn't seem to blow fire, roared at us and swiped at us with his paws. I sliced off one of his fingers while I sensed Rivan running behind Nidhogg and jabbing at his feet.

As I ran to Nidhogg's underbelly, I went to slice at his chest when he leapt up, the power of his wings sending Rivan and I to the ground as the beast buffeted upwards. He grabbed us with his talons and started flying further upwards above the town. My sword dropped to the ground.

My arms were pinned. I couldn't move. I looked over at Rivan. Three of his/her arms were pinned also, but he/she had one free hand. Rivan drew a simple knife from his/her belt, struggling, and reached and stabbed Nidhogg's underbelly. Nidhogg screeched, golden ichor streaming into the air as Rivan stabbed again and again. Nidhogg dropped us.

I was free falling, screaming, until I abruptly fell onto the roof of a house in Rivan's town. I didn't see Rivan anywhere. I couldn't move. The wind had been knocked out of me. Something wet fell into my eye. I reached out, feeling certain that I had many broken bones in my left arm and my legs, and I felt my head. There was a lot of blood pooling underneath it. I must've hit it. I was woozy.

I looked upwards, in immense pain. Where had Nidhogg gone?

Suddenly, wind was coming from the courtyard beneath me, along with the sounds of screaming. Rivan's people hadn't completely manage to evacuate. Nidhogg appeared, his eyes filled with hunger and malice. I heard his tail destroying buildings and slinging Rivan's people as Nidhogg swished it back and forth. As his face came closer, his jaw beginning to open and a serpentine tongue reaching out, I felt Riptide reappear in my pocket. I uncapped my glowing bronze sword and stabbed Nidhogg through the eye. Nidhogg ripped away screeching, Riptide still stuck in his eye.

He thrashed through the sky, his wails vibrating the building I was own. Suddenly, the monster dropped to the ground, ichor puddling around him.

I looked back up at the sky, the sun beginning to dip.

I'm so sorry, Annabeth, I thought. I wished I wasn't dying here, so far away from you. My last thought was about how much I missed her before everything went black.

…

…

…To Be Continued?


	7. Mother of Gods

**Wilson: ** Yay new update.

This is about the middle chapter of the story, so think of it like a mid season finale. Reviews are appreciated. Remember, if you review with an account and an unlocked PM you get a clip from the next chapter.

On with the show! Enjoy!

* * *

Summary: After Alabaster, the son of Hecate, goes missing, the goddess asks Percy and Annabeth to go find him. But what they find may change their world forever. Sequel to Son of Magic by Haley Riordan.

Disclaimer: I don't own Percy Jackson or its characters, Rick Riordan does. I just own the storyline and any OC's that may pop up.

* * *

**The Mother of Gods**

…

**Nico's POV**

"Over here!" That punk kid Alabaster shouted, waving his arms at the Scythian Draconae sniffing around our van. "The demigod fugitives are over here!"

I snarled, and jumped on Alabaster, hitting him on the head with the pommel of my sword. I looked up to see the snake women slithering over here, hissing in laughter. The little rat had given us up.

There were four of them. I looked at Annabeth for directions, and she nodded, drawing her dagger. We charged at the Draconae. I slashed at two of them, and they faded into shadows, as Annabeth stabbed one. It turned to dust. The last Dracona looked back and forth between us, hissing angrily as we boxed her in.

Suddenly, I found a knife at my throat. A voice that was definitely female whispered in my ear: "Now, now, boy, no more of that death god stuff, or the girl dies." I looked up to see Annabeth surrounded by three Empousai, young women with one metal leg, another that was the leg of a donkey, and literal flaming hair. They hissed laughingly as more Draconae showed up, tying up Alabaster's hands and dragging the unconscious traitor to his feet.

"Kelli." Annabeth growled at the Empousa with the knife at my throat.

"Annabeth, how nice to see you again." Kelli said from behind me as I felt Kelli's hands clawing my sword out of my hand and throwing it to the ground. She grabbed my arms and strapped them together behind my back using zip ties.

"Let's go tell our mistress that we have company." Kelli said, turning me around and winking at me.

…

Kelli the vampire cheerleader and the other monsters dumped us on the lobby couch, and while most of the monsters stayed behind, Kelli went to the elevator to go let Coatlicue know we were here.

Alabaster was put in between Annabeth and I on the sofa. We were still bound in zip ties.

"Wow." Alabaster said. "Coatlicue is back for a few days and already has a waiting room."

I kicked Alabaster in the shin.

"Ow!" He complained, scooting closer to Annabeth, who gave him a look that said, _Any closer and I'll gut you, buddy_. Alabaster decided to stop scooting. His first smart decision since I'd met him.

"What was the plan here, freak?" I asked him, severely ticked off. Honestly, if I had my sword, I would run it through the son of Hecate's chest. He had gotten us captured. Had turned on us.

"How could you betray us?!" Annabeth demanded.

"I was never on your side to begin with!" Alabaster protested. "I'm your captive!"

"You were lucky that we took you captive instead of killing you!" I reminded him. "Especially after what you've done!"

"Oh that is rich coming from you." Alabaster snarked back.

My heart stopped. "What the heck are you talking about?"

"I've heard stories about you, di Angelo." Alabaster continued ranting. "My mother hung around the Olympians, and for a hot minute you were their favorite piece of gossip. A boy from the past brought to the future. You betrayed Percy and worked with King Minos to try and resurrect your sister. You almost destroyed Camp Half-Blood. Then you betrayed Percy again for your father. In all honesty, you've probably hurt him worse than I did."

I was stunned. I didn't know that the gods knew that much about my past. I had hurt Percy, more than once. But he and I were friends. We had put the past behind us a long time ago. Besides, what did this kid know about me?

In response to his ranting, Annabeth kicked him in his shin. "What do you think is going to happen here, Alabaster? You think Coatlicue is gonna take you in as a henchman for betraying us?"

"It was worth a shot." Alabaster muttered, lowering his head. "I just want to live. Surely the two of you can sympathize."

"What do you mean?" I asked, curious.

"I mean, I betrayed Olympus." Alabaster laughed harshly, again. "I killed my only friend. I lost so many of my brother and sisters right here in this city. Even if you guys win, the Olympians will destroy me. No matter who wins here, I'm dead. I've made so many mistakes, and it's looking like I'll never have the chance to make up for them."

Looking and listening to this kid, I was reminded of myself when I was younger. I was angry and hurt by my sister Bianca's death, and I'd made mistakes, too. I worked with Minos, tried to resurrect her. I had betrayed the Olympians, too, and Percy. In fact, my early years as a demigod was nothing more than a long list of mistakes. I recognized that rage and pain in Alabaster. It was like looking in a mirror at my past self. I had once felt that same rage and pain.

Suddenly, I felt pity for Alabaster.

"Well, creep, that's what you get for-" Annabeth started.

"Look, Alabaster, I've made mistakes in the past, too." I said gently to him, interrupting Annabeth. She looked at me. "With this life, we try to do the best we can. Sometimes that isn't enough. Sometimes we lose people. The people that we care about." Alabaster looked at me, listening, confused as if he thought I was mistaken in not continuing to yell at him. Maybe he thought it was trick.

"But you gotta move on, man." I continued, confidence surging through me. I could get through to this guy. I knew I could. "That doesn't mean to forget the ones you've lost. Honor their memory. Avenge them if it's needed. But live your life. Keep fighting. Keep trying, because if you don't, then you might as well have died with your loved ones."

"How?" Alabaster whispered, tears falling. "How do I keep fighting? How did you?"

I smiled at him, and then nodded to Annabeth. "I had friends to help me. And you could, too, if that's what you wanted. And if nothing else, find an older demigod to model yourself after. Try to be a hero like them. I idolized Percy, I even thought I loved him, but his morality, his need to help everyone, it made me become the hero Percy knew I could be. But even if you model yourself after a hero, try and remember that you aren't them. You are your own person, with your own battles and your own choices. Sometimes, seeing another hero fighting for what's right is all it takes to bring out the hero in yourself."

As Alabaster looked up to respond, the elevator door dinged, and Kelli stepped out, grinning.

"This way, little heroes." Kelli said, cackling. "My mistress will see you now."

The draconae lifted us off the couch and dragged us to the elevator.

…

The monsters escorted us into the penthouse suite. The furniture was ruined, with claw marks and burns all over the chairs and couches. Kelli lead us to the glass sliding doors in front of the balcony, where the woman of the house was waiting for as she gazed out onto the city, arms crossed behind her back.

She had clearly gotten some new threads since Alabaster brought her back. She was wearing an emerald green dress, decorated with what looked like the scaly skin of a snake. Her feet were bare, and she surprisingly looked almost human. Long, raven black her flowed to the base of her spine. Her fingernails were painted with green nail polish. As Kelli slammed all three of us to our knees in front of us, I noticed that her forearm was bandaged. I remember Annabeth saying she had stabbed the goddess in the arm.

"Thank you, Kelli." Coatlicue said charmingly without turning around and actually facing us. "You may go now."

"But, mistress-" Kelli started before Coatlicue swiveled her head around, eyes glowing green. They were the eyes of a snake, I realized with a start. Kelli bowed, and muttered, "Yes, Mistress.", before giving Annabeth a hateful glare and stalking out of the room.

Coatlicue turned back and continued staring at the city.

"You mortals have come a long way since I was last here in person." Coatlicue confessed. "When I left, you all had four arms and were both male and female. I suppose Kronos, or perhaps that young upstart Prometheus retrieved two of the ancient humans from my prison and separated your halves, becoming two genders. You seem much weaker as a result, though perhaps a bit more inventive."

I flushed with recognition at her words. I remember hearing the tales of the four armed male and female humans from my father's palace. I thought it was just a myth.

"Your prison?" Annabeth asked. "You mean the past?"

Coatlicue whipped around, fixing Annabeth a hateful glare. Today just wasn't her day. I guess Coatlicue was still angry at Annabeth for shish-kebabbing her arm.

"Quiet, you insolent girl!" Coatlicue hissed venomously. "Of course I wasn't locked in the past. I was locked in the Limbo Dimension, a branch reality created by your ancestors to hold my mind, leaving my body trapped here!"

"I thought Kronos-" Alabaster started.

"As for you, child!" She hissed at Alabaster angrily. "I suppose I should be grateful to you for getting me out of that place, but you seem so full of self pity and regret that I believe your intentions towards me to be hostile. You wanted to use me as a weapon against your enemies to make up for your imagined slights. The absurdity and foolishness of it. I am a god, puny Half-Blood! I do not answer to you."

Coatlicue started pacing back and forth, caught up in her rant.

"And as for that young would-be king, Kronos, he didn't have the ability to manipulate the time stream. He couldn't lock me away. But your ancestors did. They built the Limbo Dimension and left me there! I hated them but look at me now! I'm free, and soon I will be back to full strength, while they remain trapped there forever, as well as that hero who took my place."

"Bring him back!" Annabeth demanded, rage taking her face at Coatlicue's mention of Percy.

"Oh, that is right." Coatlicue said, gazing at Annabeth with malice. "That hero is close to you, isn't here? Here, let me give you all a sneak peak at what he's been up to."

Coatlicue's eyes began glowing green again, and she cackled as everything around us faded into smoke. We found ourselves in the courtyard of some kind of primitive village. The sun, much larger than it should be, was beginning to set in the distance. The village itself was populated with a bunch of four-armed people whose physical attributes repeatedly shifted from male to female.

The village had clearly been damaged. The corpse of an enormous dragon of some kind lay in the courtyard.

A group of the four armed people were dragging someone down from the roof of one of the buildings in the courtyard.

"What is this?" I asked aloud.

"I guess this is the Limbo Dimension." Alabaster said, I turned but I couldn't see him. It was as if we were all invisible to each other. The four armed people couldn't see us.

I heard Annabeth gasp. "Percy?!" She shouted in vain. I looked at the body that these people were dragging down from the rooftop, and my heartbeat suddenly felt really loud. My blood ran cold. The body was definitely our friend Percy Jackson. His clothes were ripped. He was wearing armor that seemed to be made of tree bark, and there were claw marks on his breast plate. There was a raggedy bandage covering his left bicep. His head was bleeding, and it looked as if he had several broken bones, especially in his legs. He moaned, his eyes twisting behind his eyelids.

"Annabeth." He muttered, as if he could sense our presence, before Coatlicue cackled, and suddenly we were in front of her, with her grinning maliciously at us, revealing her teeth to be those of a shark.

"What have you done to him?!' I demanded, while Annabeth seemed to be stuck in shocked silence.

"I?" Coatlicue asked, raising her eyebrows. "I have done nothing. Your friend tried to be a hero and protect those people, taking on my child Nidhogg. He killed Nidhogg, but at great personal cost. I'd wager he doesn't have much time left."

"Bring…him…BACK!" Annabeth shouted. "Or I'll-"

"You'll do what, little demigod?" Coatlicue asked, her grin fading. "Soon I'll be at full strength, and you won't be able to stop me. I'll find my children, the other primordial gods, and this world will return to the way it was, bereft of humanity. I just need to finish up the recovery process for my strength." Suddenly, she seemed full of animal hunger.

"And I know just how to do that." She said, grinning at me maliciously. "You're blood smells older than theirs, demigod. I suppose your godly parent is one of the Elder Olympians."

"So what?" I asked, fear turning my whole body cold.

"There is power in the blood of the New Gods." Coatlicue explained, walking forwards and circling me, observing me, as if she was studying me at an atomic level. "I imagine your blood would strengthen me, returning me to full power."

"So, you want a few drops of the Blood of Olympus?" Alabaster asked warily.

"A few drops?" Coatlicue asked, turning to him before looking back down at me. "Oh, no, I shall need much more than that for my purposes." Suddenly, she licked her lips, and her jaws unhinged nearly completely, all three rows of shark teeth revealed.

I screamed as she took a chunk out of my arm.

…

**Alabaster's POV**

I screamed as I watched sickeningly as Coatlicue devoured Nico di Angelo, the second demigod to tell me I could be a hero. After that speech he gave me earlier, I had even had hopes that we could be friends.

And now I was being forced to watch as Coatlicue ripped apart and ate my new friend, blood splashing all over me. I wanted to turn away, but I felt like if I did, I would be dishonoring Nico. His screams echoed through the room for a little while, but eventually they died down, leaving only the sounds of Coatlicue chomping and Annabeth sobbing beside me. I turned to see that she looked away. Tears started falling down my face. Now, Nico was dead, and that was my fault, too. She never would have caught us if I hadn't tried to escape.

Coatlicue laughed maliciously as she walked away from us, leaving shredded clothes and bloodstains as the only evidence that Nico di Angelo had just been sitting there.

Coatlicue wiped her face and arms with a towel laying on a nearby couch, and walked back over to us, her eyes glowing much brighter than before.

"That is much better." Coatlicue said, raising her hands. "I am strong once more, and this time, no one can stop me. Now, where was I?"

She looked at us, and grinned. "Oh, right. I was going to destroy the both of you. Don't mourn for your friend, and don't you miss him for a second. You shall see him again in mere moments."

Annabeth and I closed our eyes as Coatlicue revealed her true form, blinding white light and heat surging through the room with one sole purpose.

To destroy us both.

….

…

…To Be Continued?


	8. The Sacrifice

Update time. This story is definitely going far in the way of a plot. Lots of death- um, I mean- excitement coming for all of these characters -rising maniacal laughter echoes off the walls-

So, um, yeah. I figure this story has about six or seven chapters left, roughly. But don't worry. That doesn't mean the world building is done in this story. I try to interweave world building and plot progression into all of my chapters. Some chapters I've written has more plot progression, some has more world building. ButI am in the process of polishing up the writing of Chapter 11 and finishing Chapter 12, so the end is nigh, my friends.

Also, I included a recap at the beginning of the chapter, to help me and you guys keep track of what's happened so far.

Anyways, Enjoy! :)

* * *

Summary: After Alabaster, the son of Hecate, goes missing, the goddess asks Percy and Annabeth to go find him. But what they find may change their world forever. Sequel to Son of Magic by Haley Riordan.

Disclaimer: I don't own Percy Jackson or its characters, Rick Riordan does. I just own the storyline and any OC's that may pop up.

* * *

**Previously on **_**Percy Jackson and the Son of Magic**_**:**

"I need the two of you to find my son Alabaster, and make sure he is alright." Hecate said to Percy and Annabeth.

**A Simple Quest**

"Without my mothers' knowledge, we looked and found ancient records of a group of primordial beings that existed before the gods. 12 of them, to be exact. Including Gaea, Ouranos, and Tartarus. Another primordial has surfaced recently as well. Apophis, the ancient chaos serpent of Egyptian myth. Most of the others are unaccounted for. Until Dr. Claymore and I found records of the First." Alabaster said, grinning mischievously. "Coatlicue, of Aztec myth. The Mother of Gods, as she was once called. She was the first primordial, the first to be referred to as a god. And she rests in this chamber, in its very walls. I think its high time that she woke up."

**Turned Into A Mission To Save The World**

"Percy Jackson is trapped somewhere in the past, while Coatlicue is somewhere up here." Alabaster explained to Annabeth.

**A Crisis Unfolds**

Annabeth looked at Alabaster and Nico. They weren't exactly the dream team, but maybe the three of them could fix this mess.

**A Mission To Save Their Friend From Certain Death**

Percy lay on the rooftop, bones broken, blood leaking from his head, the scars on his arm throbbing. As he lay dying, he wished he could have seen Annabeth one last time.

**And Stop The Mother of Gods**

"I wasn't locked in the past. I was locked in the Limbo Dimension, a branch reality created by your ancestors to hold my mind." Coatlicue hissed venomously. "Now I'm free, and soon I will be back to full strength."

**And A Death They Could Not Have Been Prepared For**

Alabaster screamed as he watched Coatlicue devour Nico di Angelo.

**Is This A Fight They Cannot Win?**

* * *

**The Sacrifice**

…

_Alabaster's POV_

Suddenly, the noise and light died down. I opened my eyes, and sensed Annabeth doing the same, only to find that the zip ties around our hands had been broken. Coatlicue stood there watching us, shock on her face as well as a look of slight disappointment, as if she had been really looking forward to two charbroiled demigods.

"How are you two still alive?" Coatlicue demanded. "I incinerated you!"

As Annabeth and I got shakily to our feet, I avoided looking at the stain on the floor next to me that used to be my newfound sort of friend Nico di Angelo. Coatlicue had devoured him.

"Looks like you missed." I snarked at Coatlicue, pulling an index card out of my pocket. In all the excitement, I had forgotten that my magic had been returned to me. I tapped the card against one of the symbols on my vest, and an Imperial Gold broadsword appeared out of thin air and landed in my hand.

Coatlicue smiled while Annabeth stood there. Her weapons had been taken from her when the Scythian Draconae had captured us.

"I'm at full power, now, demigod." Coatlicue whispered. "That little thing can't hurt something like me."

"And now you can't hurt us." Annabeth realized, smiling mockingly at Coatlicue. "You're an all powerful deity again, bound by the same Ancient Laws as the Titans and the Olympians. You can't strike a mortal unless they attack you first."

Coatlicue bared her fangs and snarled at us. But then she smiled. "I cannot, but my monsters can!" She shouted triumphantly as she howled. Kelli the Empousa and a squad of the Draconae ran into the room. We turned and faced them, me being the only one armed.

"Any chance you've got more of those?" Annabeth asked, gesturing to my sword. I know she didn't fully trust me yet. I didn't blame her, but I also knew that in this moment, we had to be allies, because otherwise, we would both die.

"It's your lucky day, Chase." I muttered as I pulled another card out and whipped out an identical sword for her. She handled it as if she had been wielding golden broadswords her entire life.

Kelli and the snake women charged, while Coatlicue was forced to watch from behind, unable to interfere unless Annabeth or I challenged her directly.

Me and Annabeth sliced through the monsters. Annabeth had fought these Scythian Draconae all throughout the Titan War, and while she struggled a little, she seemed to not have too terribly much trouble fighting these things. I, on the other hand, had trained with them while I was in Kronos's Army. Had fought alongside them, which meant I knew all of their weaknesses.

As I was vanquishing the last of the monsters, I heard Kelli hiss in pain and scream "Not again!" I turned to see Annabeth sliced the demon in half.

The two of us turned to face Coatlicue,

"That was dramatic." She quipped, grinning evilly. "I'm not worried." She closed her eyes, and moments again opened them. This time, her eyes were glowing a much brighter green. "There are more where they came from." She hissed as the building shook. Coatlicue vanished, and I looked at Annabeth.

"Run!" I yelled, and we charged out of the penthouse, diving for the stairs.

…

Minutes later, we exited the Plaza Hotel just as it crumbled to the ground, mortals streaming out and screaming. I heard the sound of sirens, and as Annabeth and I ran, dozens of mortals bumped into us, seemingly oblivious to the swords in our hands.

"We gotta move!" I shouted. "She would've called more monsters. We're being hunted now!"

"Where do we go?" Annabeth shouted back.

"All of this will have the mortals paranoid!" I responded over the noise of people shouting and pushing past us. "We're not gonna be able to leave the city for a while!"

Annabeth looked around and stared at the Empire State Building. I followed her gaze to the top.

"You gotta be kidding me!" I shouted. "We can't go to Olympus!"

"Why not?!" Annabeth demanded. "It's the safest place in the city right now! Besides, after all of this, we need to regroup and strategize! Right about now we could use some godly help!"

Before I could snipe back and remind her that I was banished from Olympus, a green mist enveloped the both of us and everything went black.

Suddenly, we were in an abandoned church, save for a woman crouched in prayer on the dais.

"Hecate?" Annabeth asked.

"Mom?" I asked at the same time.

Hecate rose and faced us both. "Annabeth Chase, Alabaster Torrington." Mother sniffed at me and faced Annabeth.

"My dear, I owe you the deepest apology." She said. "By the time I sensed what was happening in that penthouse, I was already too late. I could not save your friend. I could only shield you from Coatlicue's power temporarily and bring down that building before bringing you both here. I'd been looking for you for hours, ever since I detected you had entered the city. It was the leasr I could do after Alabaster did what he did."

A tear rolled down Annabeth's cheek. "I can't believe Nico is gone. To go out like that…"

"It was not a death befitting a hero such as him." Hecate agreed. "But his father is King of the Underworld, so I can only imagine that he will be treated as a prince upon his arrival."

As Annabeth and Hecate talked, I was lost in the emotions I hadn't had time to feel after that beast ate Nico. We hadn't known each other long, but the Son of Hades had faith in me. Faith that I could be a hero, just like him. He should be the one standing here, not me. I should've been the one that Coatlicue had eaten. Now the world was in danger, Nico was gone, and Percy Jackson probably was, too. It was all my fault.

And then an idea occurred to me. An idea so crazy that it just might work.

"He's not gone. I'm gonna bring him back." I said aloud. Hecate and Annabeth stopped talking and looked at me.

"What did you say?" Annabeth asked.

"I'm gonna bring Nico back from the dead." I continued before my courage could buckle under the pressure. "I'm going to Hades."

…

"Alabaster, that's insane." Annabeth said derisively. "You can't barter with Hades. He doesn't do resurrections. And besides, you have nothing to offer."

"Maybe." I agreed. "You're probably right. But Nico is dead because of me. He tried to help me. Tried to make me a better person. I have to do this."

Annabeth looked at Hecate, whose face had become an unreadable mask. She stared at Alabaster as if he was insect who was chirping a little too loudly.

"It's not possible." Annabeth protested. "How would you even get to him? Orpheus's Door?"

"No." Hecate finally spoke. "You're safe in here, but the moment you leave my House, Coatlicue's monsters will find you."

"I don't need to go anywhere." I said confidently. "I'll go to the Underworld in a dream."

There was silence in the House of Hecate.

"Alabaster, I don't um- I don't know-" Annabeth started.

"It's dangerous." Hecate interceded. "If you stay down there dreaming on purpose for too long, you'll be trapped. Not a spirit, so not really dead, but with no physical foothold in the world, so not truly alive. It's a fate far worse than anything the Fields of Punishment has to offer."

"And the prophecy said that as long as Percy is locked up in the Limbo Dimension, nothing you try to do will work." Annabeth said, aggression in her voice as she reminded me that her boyfriend's disappearance was also my fault.

I looked at both of them. My immortal mother, who disowned me, and Annabeth Chase, someone I once thought of as an enemy, someone who was trying to save me before I did something evil to both her and the love of her life. And now Nico was paying the price for my mistake. No more. I couldn't allow anyone else to suffer because of my mistakes.

I looked at them helplessly. "I don't have a choice. I have to try." Before they could argue, I put my hand on my chest and muttered, "_Incantare: Magnus Somnum_." I saw Annabeth reach to catch me as I fell, everything around me turning black.

…

I found myself in a line marked EZ Death. It looked a little like a subway turnstile. I looked around me and saw other souls marching in the line. They couldn't see me.

I looked in the distance and saw Hades' Palace. My destination. I was beginning to will myself there when a voice behind me said calmly, "Well, what do we have here? A dreaming demigod?"

I turned and saw a pale man with long, oily black hair. He was wearing a black robe decorated with what looked like the screaming faces of the damned. A strange black sword, similar to Nico's, was sheathed at his side. The other souls around me were moving away from him and bowing, "My lord." They muttered in fear.

"Lord Hades?" I guessed, trying to decide if I should bow. Hades raised his eyebrow.

"My mistake." Hades responded. "A dreaming demigod who brought himself here on purpose." He sniffed at me. "A son of Hecate. Hmm. You seem familiar." Suddenly, recognition filled his face. "Ah. Alabaster Torrington. The banished one. Interesting. What do you say we take this conversation somewhere more private?" Before I could answer, he snapped his fingers. We were in his throne room. He took a seat on an obsidian throne, leaving me staring up at him.

"I can't say I don't have a soft spot for those banished from Olympus." Hades confessed, drawing his sword and propping it next to his seat. "What do you want, godling?"

I took a deep breath. Here we go. "I want you to resurrect your son, Nico di Angelo." Hades' eyebrow crept up.

"Why?"

"He died because of something I did." I continued. "I want you to send him back to the world of the living and allow me to take his place."

There was silence. "And what exactly, did you do?" Hades asked, rage burning in his eyes. Clearly, he wasn't happy about the fact that I had just confessed to killing his son, but since I was still breathing, there was nothing he could do.

Ignoring his obviously rising anger, I told him the story of my researching the Protogenoi, or primordial gods, of all the pantheons, how I discovered Coatlicue, brought her back from The Limbo Dimension, as she called it, while accidentally sending Percy Jackson there, how Nico, Annabeth and I went to find and confront Coatlicue, and how Coatlicue devoured Nico to regain her strength and Hecate helped me and Annabeth to escape. The God of the Dead was a good listener, but as I went on his jaw tightened, and I could feel his displeasure like winds rising before a tornado. When I finished, Hades looked at his sword, as if considering running me through with it.

I felt my tether to the real world beginning to loosen. I didn't have much more time before I became stuck her, disembodied.

"I see." Hades said calmly, looking up at me. "Fine. I'll do it."

A feeling of warmth went through me. Nico was coming back, and I didn't care that I was about to die in his place and probably was going to be sent to The Fields of Punishment.

"But," Hades continued, sending a shiver of fear down my spine, "I'm not going to kill you just yet. It sounds to me as if you have work to do in the world above. After Coatlicue is defeated, I will come for you. Do not even think about running." The Lord of the Underworld snapped his fingers, and everything around me went black.

…

I woke up back in the House of Hecate. Apparently, Annabeth and my mother had laid me on one of the pews. They were both standing above me, looking angry.

"How long was I out?" I asked cautiously, rising up.

"Mere seconds." My mother answered coldly. "Were your endeavors successful?"

"They were." A familiar voice said from behind us. We turned to see Nico di Angelo walking towards us down the aisle. He looked fine, not a scratch on him. His sword was hanging at his side.

"Nico!" Annabeth shouted, running up to hug him. Hecate watched me with cold, calculating eyes.

Nico looked at me, admiration in his eyes. "You did this? You brought me back? Why?"

I looked at him and smiled. "A friend once told me it sometimes takes seeing another hero fighting for what's right to bring out the hero in yourself."

Nico smiled as Annabeth looked between him and I. "Sounds like a good friend."

"I hope so." I answered, feeling warm. Maybe I could have friends and fix all of this after all.

"I hate to break up a budding bromance," Annabeth interrupted, "but how is this possible? I thought the prophecy said that as long as Percy is trapped in the Limbo Dimension, nothing Alabaster did would work?"

As silence filled the room, realization at the implications of what she just said hit me.

"Percy Jackson isn't in the Limbo Dimension anymore." I realized aloud. "He must've escaped. He's back."

Annabeth looked at everyone, confusion and hope filling her eyes.

"Then where is he?"

…

_Coatlicue hissed in rage. That meddlesome goddess of magic had interfered. She hated these New Gods. But it didn't matter._

_She was facing the Mediterranean, on the shores of what was once an island called Crete. It was time to resurrect her children, the other Protogenoi. Starting with her favorite son._

_She raised her hands, and green lightning struck from the skies. The sea began churning, flashes of gold and red light appearing in its depths._

_As a body composed of pure light began to appear in the sky above the waves, Coatlicue shouted, "Rise, Ouranos! Rise, my son!"_

…

…

…To Be Continued?

* * *

Alright guys, thanks for reading. I hope you enjoyed it. Especially the part where Nico is back. Remember, everyone who reviews with an account and an open PM will get a clip from the next chapter. Let me know what you guys think.

KillWilson out.


	9. The Door

Sorry for the long wait, guys. Hope you're all staying safe and well.

I'm not gonna bore you with an especially long authors note.

Enjoy! ;-)

* * *

Summary: After Alabaster, the son of Hecate, goes missing, the goddess asks Percy and Annabeth to go find him. But what they find may change their world forever. Sequel to Son of Magic by Haley Riordan.

Disclaimer: I don't own Percy Jackson or its characters, Rick Riordan does. I just own the storyline and any OC's that may pop up.

* * *

**The Door**

…

**Percy's POV**

I woke up, feeling slight pains all over my body. I was back in Rivan's room. Rivan him/herself was sitting in a chair next to my bed. Rivan's arm was in a sling, and both of his legs were heavily damaged. I looked at my body and found that the scratches on my arm (courtesy of Hector the saber toothed tiger) had been re-bandaged, and my ribs had been completely bandaged as well. My legs were sore, and I'm pretty sure my right leg was sprained, or worse. Every breath I took felt like I was breathing in a little glass with that oxygen, and I felt like my face had been whaled on by a Cyclops (And believe me, I know what that looks like and it's not pretty).

The makeshift armor I had worn to fight the Nidhogg was gone, and I felt in my pockets and found my pen. I coughed, and Rivan looked down at me. Even sitting, s/he towered over the bed.

"I am glad that you are alive, Percy Jackson." Rivan said. "I had worried…but I am glad that you survived your injuries."

"Me too." I groaned, trying to find the will to sit up. "Nidhogg? Is it-"

"Dead?" Rivan asked, grimacing. "Yes. You killed the beast; but we suffered a few losses. Its body is still in the courtyard. No more resurrections for that monster. You and I landed on rooftops when he fell. You and he landed closer to the courtyard than I did. Unfortunately, I landed at the perimeter near the forest where we found you, too far away to help you any longer. By the time I was able to hobble back to the courtyard to find you, the monster was dead, and I thought you were, too. My people were pulling you down-"

As Rivan spoke I felt the memories of it taking over. The four-armed people pulling me down, and I thought I had heard Annabeth yelling my name.

"-my people are praising you as a hero." Rivan was still talking. "They will be sad to see you go."

"Go?" I croaked. "Go where?" I lifted myself up on the bed and found that there was something in the room that hadn't been in here the first time I was in here. It was a green lightning bolt that was crackling. The bottom of it was brushing the floor, and it rose to about 6 feet tall. It looked like a hole had been torn in the universe and someone had built a zipper.

"What is that?" I asked, feeling the heat and power coming off of it.

"That is a door." Rivan said, looking down sadly.

"A door to where?" I asked, beginning to feel hopeful.

"A door home." Rivan confirmed. "For you."

"How?" I asked, feeling giddy. "How did it get there?"

"We don't know for sure." Rivan explained. "But I have a theory. You see, my people built this place to trap Coatlicue, a Protogenoi, a primordial goddess of insurmountable power, as well as all of her monstrous creations. Gaea and her Titans reinforced this place to hold my people. You just aren't important enough for the Limbo Dimension to hold you. This place wants you gone."

"Then why would it wait until now?" I asked, mystified.

"Because the Nidhogg was here." Rivan answered carefully. "I suppose from the perspective of this reality, you had a purpose to serve while you were here. And served it you did. I cannot thank you enough for saving my people from the Beast."

"I told you, it's who I am." I responded, sliding out of the bed and beginning to limp towards the portal. I stopped.

"None of you can come with me, can you?" I asked.

Rivan looked at me sadly. "I'm afraid, Mr. Jackson, that the portal will not work for us. Limbo will not let us leave. Our time together, as short as it was, has drawn to a close."

I hesitated. "What will happen to you when I leave?"

"We will live." Rivan confirmed. "With Nidhogg dead, many of my people may seek to reproduce, to rebuild. We will have to, now, anyways. We can die now and stay dead. Who knows? Perhaps we can rebuild our great civilization here, what with Coatlicue and Nidhogg gone? But you have to promise me something, Percy Jackson."

"Anything." I responded.

Rivan looked at me with pleading eyes. "Please do not send Coatlicue back here. I don't know that my people and I can handle any more suffering. You know what she once was, now, so now you know that it may be possible to kill her, or scatter her essence so far that she may never be able to reform, just as you did with the Titan King and the Earth Mother."

"I promise, Rivan." I said sincerely. "We will find a way to deal with Coatlicue. And then I'm coming back."

Rivan recoiled. "Coming back? Why?"

"I'm gonna bring you guys home. Back to Earth. I'll find a way to get it done." I promised Rivan and myself. "I swear it on the River Styx." As thunder boomed in the distance, Rivan looked at me with hopeful eyes.

"I swear it." I repeated more firmly, and I stepped through the portal.

…

Travelling through the portal was a lot like shadow travel. It was cold, and I heard voices speaking in languages I didn't recognize.

Finally, I found myself on some kind of beach. There were dozens of yachts in the water ahead of me. My bearings told me that I was looking at the Pacific Ocean. There was a cliff behind me with a winding staircase leading to a lighthouse at the top. I was in California.

"What the hell?" I muttered to myself, kicking sand. I had assumed that the portal was going to take me back to New York, where Annabeth should still be, and instead I was on the other side of the country.

"A hero should use better language." A familiar voice said behind me. I turned to find a regal woman with a goatskin cape on.

"Hera?!" I demanded.

The woman frowned. For a split second, her form changed into an even more familiar version of the goddess I knew. "No, Perseus Jackson, but close."

"Juno." I decided. "What do you want?"

"That's rude." Juno said, frowning. "I thought we were on better terms."

"You took nine months from my life." I growled. "You thought wrong. Now, what do you want?"

Juno sniffed at me. "Young upstart. I brought you here to help me."

"What do you mean, brought me here?" I demanded. "I stepped through a portal. And where is here, exactly?"

"Malibu. The foreclosed home of Piper's McClean's father is up there." Juno answered, pointing to the cliff. A shiver went down my spine. Piper told me this is where they'd found Jason's body. "And as for your portal, Mr. Jackson." Juno continued. She waved her hand, and the portal reappeared behind me, orange in color. "You step through it again, and it will return you to New York, to the right time period, as soon as you complete your mission."

"The right time period?" I asked carefully. "And what mission?"

"Yes." Juno responded. "As soon as I sense a hole being opened in reality, I meddled with its foundation and had it bring you here, to this time, this day. Today is the day Jason Grace will die."

I felt tears start to fall. Jason was my friend, and now I was going to have to watch him die.

"Unless you can save him." Juno said, looking at me carefully. "You can save him and pull him from the timeline. Apollo, Piper, and the daughter of Demeter, they will assume he is dead, assume his body fell to the ocean floor when Caligula throws him of his yacht."

"But once he's in the ocean, I can heal him." I realized. I had never really healed someone else underwater before, but I had to try. I had to save my friend.

"Once he's down there, and he's healed, wait a little while." Juno said, pointing behind me. I turned to see Jason's wind horse, Tempest, I think, carrying the human version of Apollo and Piper McClean across the Harbor away from the yachts. "They will stay for a while, but they can't see the portal. Only you and I can. Now hurry, Jackson, you haven't much time left. Save Jason." The goddess waved her hand, and I was flung into the water and Juno was gone.

As I got my bearings and felt the water healing my injuries from the Limbo Dimension, I willed the water to propel me towards the yachts, in the direction Tempest was coming from.

To Jason.

…

I found myself looking at the bottom of the yacht. There was a submarine on the side that was mounted halfway underwater. Why were these boats forming a type of bridge?

I felt something land in the water twenty feet away. I swam over and found my friend.

"Oh, man." I said, fear turning my blood to ice. I willed Jason and I to sink underneath a little more as I sensed the boats above me increasing their speed, and the wind horse approaching on the ocean's surface.

Jason had arrows in each of his limbs. There were punctures wounds in his back from spears.

I prayed to my dad, Poseidon. Please dad, just a little bit of help. I willed the water to heal Jason's wounds as I used bubbles to form an air pocket around Jason's face. After a few frustrating minutes, his body began to heal. He coughed a little but remained unconscious.

Suddenly, there was a splash from above. It was a dead man. I figured he must've been a mortal mercenary who was working for Caligula. Suddenly, the man's features began to transform. His dark hair turned blond, and he shrunk in height a bit. I was looking at a man that looked just like Jason. As if that wasn't strange enough, wounds like Jason's began to appear, and the arrows that I had removed from Jason's limbs flung themselves into Fake Jason's arms and legs.

_Use him, Perseus_. Juno's voice said in my head. _Send him home_. Understanding what Juno was telling me to do, I willed the currents to send Fake Jason to the ocean's surface. Maintaining the timeline.

As Jason began to couch and stir, I used the bubbles from Fake Jason's departure and added them to Jason's air supply, and I made us sink further.

…

"Percy?" Jason muttered, seeing me. "What's going on?"

"You don't know how good it is to see you again, old friend." I said.

We were sitting at the bottom of the harbor. I saw the ships above us departing. I gave us a few more minutes.

"What happened?" Jason asked. "What are you doing here? Piper and Apollo need my help. Tempest will have taken them to shore. We need to go to them. They'll be worried about me."

I laughed, scratching my throbbing head. Oh boy. Here we go.

"Yeah." I said. "About that." I quickly explained that he originally died at Caligula's hands, and how Juno had sent me back to save him. Then I explained about Alabaster bringing Coatlicue back and how I went to the Limbo Dimension, and then quickly told him about the portal waiting for us.

"Wow." Jason said, absorbing the barrage of information I just gave him. "Okay. You've been busy. But Percy, I'm cheating death here. This is wrong."

"Yeah, well, you're not really cheating death." I reminded. "Hera, or Juno, or whatever, is cheating death for you. And she really didn't give you a choice. Now, do you wanna go back up there so Caligula can kill you properly, or do you want to come help me save the world?"

Jason frowned. "I don't like this. But fine. Let's go stop an ancient Aztec goddess." Jason laughed.

"What's so funny?" I asked him.

"Every time I think I've seen and heard everything, the world gets even more weird." Jason said, shrugging.

"Story of my life." I muttered as I willed the currents to take us back to shore.

…

As we walked back onto the beach, Jason soaking wet and me dry as a bone, we found the portal waiting for us. Piper, Apollo, Meg McCaffrey and Tempest were gone. There were marks in the sand showing where they'd pulled Fake Jason from the water, and where they'd been standing.

"I feel bad for them." Jason said. "They think I'm dead. Gods, Piper-"

"Don't freak out." I answered, putting my hands on his shoulder. "You'll see her soon, and you'll be able to explain. And you were dead, man. We've missed you. Trust me, they'll be happy to just even be able to see you again."

"Now, come on." I said, pulling him toward the portal. "Who knows how long Juno will keep this up."

Me and my newly resurrected friend stepped through the portal.

…

And I found myself back in the House of Hecate. The goddess herself immediately turned to Jason and me, and I noticed Annabeth, Nico and that punk Alabaster standing around, talking, while Alabaster was sitting in a chair.

"Percy Jackson isn't in the Limbo Dimension anymore." Alabaster was saying. "He's back."

"Then where is he?" Annabeth asked.

"Right here." I responded, grinning at Annabeth.

Everyone whirled around.

"Percy?!" Annabeth shouted, running up to me and hugging.

"Um, Annabeth?" Nico said, pointing to Jason standing uncomfortably behind me. As she looked up and noticed him standing behind me, Nico continued. "How is this-"

"Possible?" I said, pulling away from Annabeth. "It's a long story. Why is he here?" I asked, gesturing to Alabaster.

"Longer story." Annabeth answered.

"You have a little time." Hecate informed us. "Before Coatlicue's monsters come to kill every single one of you."

Well, that's one way to kill a mood.

…

…

…To Be Continued?


	10. The Hunted

A/N

Woo-hoo, another update. Sorry for the long wait, guys, and I am also sorry for not sending out previews for the last chapter. I had written them out, but what with school wrapping up I forgot to send them. Whoops XD. But I promise, anyone who reviews with an account and an open PM will get a clip from the next chapter.

I will say this though, there probably won't be another update for a little while, so that I can finish writing the last few chapters of the story. Thanks to an author named SlothKeeper, I've got permission to use a really cool PJO fan concept, so look forward to that. And if there are any Harry Potter fans here, I've got a cool old-fashioned mystery story set at Hogwarts coming soon, so be looking for that.

Anyways, enough prattling on. Enjoy, and let me know what you think in the reviews.

* * *

Summary: After Alabaster, the son of Hecate, goes missing, the goddess asks Percy and Annabeth to go find him. But what they find may change their world forever. Sequel to Son of Magic by Haley Riordan.

Disclaimer: I don't own Percy Jackson or its characters, Rick Riordan does. I just own the storyline and any OC's that may pop up

* * *

**The Hunted**

…

**Nico's POV**

Gods, I really hated running. But at least The Mist was doing its job of preventing mortals from seeing five heavily armed demigods running down East Twenty Second Street as if our lives depended on it.

Well, not that our lives didn't depend on us being fast, but…you know what I mean.

"Just one more block." Percy encouraged us, having taken the lead as soon as we had decided to temporarily take refuge at his mom's house. We heard a roar down the street.

"Why couldn't your mom just send us to Percy's?" I complained to Alabaster. His mom, Hecate, the Goddess of Magic, had dropped the bombshell on us that monsters working for the goddess Coatlicue would be hunting us, and then magically teleported us back to the Plaza Hotel, right where Coatlicue had been setting up a base.

Yeah, thanks, Hecate.

Of course, we had dropped in on a scaly, terrifying monster I had never seen before. Alabaster had called her Lamia, and she had roared in pleasure. I guess she didn't like Alabaster. Alabaster had told us to run, and along the way my recently resurrected friend Jason Grace had recommended finding a safe-ish place to lay low.

"Why can't you shadow travel us there?" Alabaster countered, panting.

"I don't have the energy." I growled. "I'm sorry if dying took a lot out of me."

"Not helping, guys." Jason reprimanded us, his blue eyes looking at us quizzically. I was still trying to get used to the fact that he was back. I remember how torn up I was when he died. All of the grass around me had frozen solid, and apparently, I had almost given a dryad frostbite. Percy had told us that after escaping the Limbo Dimension, Hera, or Juno (you can pick. Both forms of the goddess are equally annoying.) had sent him back to save Jason. I imagine Piper and Leo were going to be ecstatic when they found out he was alive.

If we lived long enough to see them, anyways.

"What was up with your mom?" I asked Alabaster. Just before Hecate had sent us away, she had started shuddering and clutching her ears as if there was some loud noise only she could hear. She had waved her glowing green hand and that's when we had appeared in front of the Plaza Hotel.

"I don't know, but I can't imagine it's anything good!" Alabaster responded.

Yeah, who'da thought it?

…

Finally, we saw the apartment Percy Jackson and his mortal family lived in. A blue Prius with what were obviously the hoof prints of a Pegasus was sitting in the parking lot.

"Finally." Percy sighed in relief. He buzzed us in, and we quickly made our way up to the fifth floor apartment. Percy locked the door behind.

"Home sweet home." Percy said wistfully. I can imagine he was wishing we could stay here.

"Alright, I don't know about you guys," Percy said, looking at each of us and eyeing Alabaster with distaste. He was probably angry at the kid for starting this whole mess. "But I could use a shower, and a change of clothes."

We all looked at our clothes. Annabeth in her ripped jeans and dirtied camp shirt, me in my traditional black jeans and aviator jacket, Alabaster in his cargo pants and bulletproof vest with the weird glowing glyphs all over, and Jason still in his boarding school khakis and button down shirt.

"Yeah." Annabeth agreed. "I call dibs on your mom's shower. I still have clothes here, right?"

Percy directed her to his room, where she had a duffel bag with an emergency change of clothes inside.

"Percy, where's your mom?" I asked him, confused. It wasn't like his parents to not greet guests.

"Her and Estelle are on a publishing tour." Percy answered, still giving Alabaster the wolf glare, the one he'd learned from Lupa. "And Paul is at a conference. But I thought they'd be back by now." He sighed, probably missing his family, and then looked at Jason's destroyed school uniform.

"Come on, man." He said. "I'm pretty sure my clothes will fit you a lot better than those." As Percy and Jason walked to Percy's room to catch up, I pulled an uncomfortable Alabaster to the side, out of earshot of the others.

"He hates me." Alabaster said sadly, referring to Percy. "Not that I blame him." He added as an afterthought.

"That'll work out in time." I said hurriedly, something on my mind. "You have to earn his trust. Give it some more time. Besides, you have bigger problems."

"What do you mean?" Alabaster asked, looking at me in alarm.

"What did you do?" I demanded. "I know my father. He doesn't give up dead souls, and when he does, it's for an extremely high price. What did you do, Alabaster?"

Alabaster looked down, as if his shoes had suddenly become interesting. I pushed him.

"Alabaster, what did you give my father?" I demanded.

"My life." He answered quietly. "It was a fair trade. My life for yours."

I sighed. What had this kid done? I punched a nearby wall, and then stopped, waiting to see if Percy, Jason or Annabeth had heard me. They apparently hadn't, as Percy was still catching Jason up on everything he'd missed, and Annabeth was still showering.

"How long?" I asked calmly, getting my rage under control before I accidentally summoned some zombie pets that would attack everyone. (Don't ask. It's happened before, and I told Chiron and Will that it was an accident, but they didn't believe me.)

"Hades told me that as soon as Coatlicue is defeated, he'll come for me." Alabaster said, his eyes dim in defeat, as if he was already dead. "There is no cheating it, no hiding from him."

"Don't you think I know that?" I snapped, my rage bubbling inside. "I'm his son."

"Nico, I'm sorry." Alabaster said. "But I couldn't let you die. I couldn't…" Alabaster dropped to his knees, his face in his hands. "Nico, I lead all of my siblings to their deaths in the Titan War. For so long, I blamed Percy for fighting back, but that was only because I didn't want to face the truth: their deaths were my fault. The world lost their potential because I was angry at the gods and told those kids they were warriors fighting for what I believed was right, not what they believed. And when you died, I couldn't just…abandon you. I couldn't let another demigod die because of me, especially right after I sent Percy to…"

"Alabaster." I interrupted, sitting on the floor next to him. "I get it. I do. But now I've gotta live knowing that you gave your life for me."

Alabaster was quiet. "Then don't waste it. You were the only one here who believed in me. And I believe in you. I've got a plan to stop Coatlicue, and I need your help, but the others can't know about it. They won't like it."

I looked at him, curious. What kind of plan could this kid whip up to defeat an ancient goddess hell bent on our destruction?

"What did you have in mind?"

.

.

.

Finally, all of us were relaxing in Percy's living room, eating leftover snacks and Percy's customary blue soda. After all of these years, I still didn't quite get Percy's obsession with blue food and drinks.

My heart was still cold after hearing Alabaster's crazy plan to beat Coatlicue. After hearing it, I'd told him I would help him, but only if he agreed to leave that as a Plan B. We would find another way to beat the Mother of Gods, a way that didn't play with the fabric of reality the way Alabaster's plan did.

"So, what now?" Jason asked.

Annabeth sighed. "I think our best move is to go back to camp. We need more intel, and we need a new plan. Coatlicue is now back at full strength."

"Eh." Percy grunted through mouthfuls of a peanut butter sandwich. "We've had worse odds."

Annabeth frowned at his full mouth, but I could tell she had really missed him while he was in the Limbo Dimension. "Maybe, but we can't afford to take chances."

"I agree." Jason added.

"Maybe we should Iris-Message Chiron, get some advice?" I suggested, thinking Chiron might know of a way to track Ancient Goddesses that we didn't. "At the very least, we should let him know we're coming. In a few minutes, I should have enough power to shadow travel us back to camp."

"Good idea." Annabeth said. She went to the kitchen and warmed up a bowl of water, bringing back the steaming bowl and putting it in front of the window, letting the sunshine seep through the steam. She fished a drachma out of her pocket and threw it through the mini rainbow, and muttered, "Oh Iris, Goddess of the Rainbow, show me Chiron at Camp Half-Blood."

Suddenly, the centaur appeared in the mist. He was playing cards with a few satyrs.

"Chiron?" Annabeth asked. The centaur turned and smiled at Annabeth and Percy.

"Percy, it is good to see you in the right dimension and time zone." He nodded at Nico and me. Then his eyes fell on Jason Grace.

"Jason, what- how-" Chiron spluttered.

"It's good to see you, too, Chiron." Jason said, grinning at him.

"It's a long story." Annabeth confirmed for their teacher, and then quickly explained everything that had happened, throwing another drachma into the mist to keep the message going.

"Do any of you have any clue where Coatlicue would've gone?" Chiron asked.

There was a heavy silence that followed his question.

"We were hoping you would have some ideas." Percy ventured hopefully.

Chiron sighed. "I'm afraid I have no answers for that question, m'boy. But I do have some news."

"Good or bad?" I asked.

"In our world, there usually isn't good news." Percy reminded me. Alabaster continued to remain silent. The old centaur hadn't liked him on his last visit to Camp Half-Blood (i.e. when he was taken prisoner), and I figured that hadn't changed since then.

"Unfortunately, Nico, Percy is correct." Chiron said sadly. "This news is quite catastrophic."

"Shocker." Jason muttered.

"What's happened now?" Annabeth asked.

"All of the Olympians save for Jason's father, Zeus, have fled Olympus for reasons unknown." Chiron informed us. "Alarms rang through the mountain, alarms so ancient even Zeus admitted to having forgotten about them. All immortals, myself included, felt a massive surge of power crisscrossing around the world just before the alarms sounded. I imagine Juno, or Hera, take your pick, had Percy rescue Jason in response to the event. Lord Poseidon has fled to his underwater palace, and rumors have it that Apollo has rejoined his demigod companion Meg McCaffrey in Aeithales. The rest of the gods have fled to locations unknown."

"What's powerful enough to scare off the Olympians?" Annabeth asked, pale. I realized why Hecate had ditched us so fast. She had heard the alarm and was trying to run away, and she must not have been open to the idea of taking five demigods with her.

"Considering all that you have told me, it can only be one thing." Chiron answered, glaring accusingly at Alabaster. "Another Protogenoi has been Awakened."

All of us turned to look at Alabaster.

"What?!" Alabaster demanded, his eyes outraged. "This one wasn't me. I've been with you the whole time!"

"It couldn't have been Alabaster." I said to them. I knew they didn't trust Alabaster, and I didn't blame them, but I wanted him to be the hero I knew he had the potential to be, at least while he still had the time, and that wasn't going to happen if they were constantly at his throat (sometimes literally). "He brought me back. I have good reason to trust him with my life."

"Then who was it?" Jason asked, looking at me with curiosity. I imagined he was wondering why I had just stuck my neck out for this kid.

"It was Coatlicue." Annabeth murmured.

"What?" Chiron asked, a look of alarm on his face.

"Coatlicue said the other primordials gods were her children." Annabeth continued, looking at Chiron with shared alarm. "She said she would wake them up. It's starting."

Shocked silence followed her pronouncement.

"You five need to get back here, to camp, now." Chiron said, looking at all of us, even Alabaster. "It took everything we had to beat Gaea, and it still almost wasn't enough. If another war is coming, we need to be ready."

"I imagine they will be delayed." Said a female voice from behind us. We turned to find that Lamia had come inside Percy's apartment. The front door was standing wide open.

"They have a prior commitment." Lamia said, grinning mischievously. She pulled out a cell phone from thin air and made a call. "Yes." She was saying. "I found them. I just sent you my location, Mistress." How come monsters can use cell phones and we can't? It would make so many things heroes have to do much easier, like calling for backup and researching obscure monsters and gods on the spot.

"She works for Coatlicue." Annabeth said as all of us jumped up into fighting position.

"Guys, get out of there, now!" Chiron ordered through the Iris-Message.

Lamia once again turned her attention to the centaur. She sneered.

"I don't like eavesdroppers." She hissed, jumping completely over us and pouncing on the water bowl, knocking it to the floor and completely disrupting the message. She turned back to us and shouted "_Incantare: Templum Incendere_!" Suddenly, Percy's apartment caught fire.

"Kill her!" Jason shouted, as he was weaponless. Percy's couch was completely ablaze, and judging from the smoke coming from the hallway, I imagined the bedrooms had become an inferno. Percy roared, jumping at Lamia with Riptide drawn. Lamia snarled and slashed Percy aside as Annabeth attacked her, swiping at the monster with her dagger and decorating her with new cuts all across her body. Lamia lashed out at Annabeth and tried to slash her throat before Percy yanked his girlfriend backwards.

As Alabaster began chanting some kind of spell, Lamia turned and faced him, claws extending. As she began to pounce, I drove my sword in her back.

Lamia screeched, turning and swatting me onto Jason. Then she crumbled to dust, and my sword dropped to the ground with a clattering noise. Suddenly, the only noise was our heavy breathing because of the smoke and the building's fire alarms.

"Was that so hard?" I demanded, out of breath and coughing in the gathering smoke as I climbed off of a groaning Jason.

Suddenly, thunder shook the building and we heard pouring rain hitting the roof. Everyone turned to Jason.

He shook his head. "It's not me." Jason said.

Suddenly, all of the hair on my neck raised, and I smelled something like ozone. I looked at Percy, and he looked just as alarmed as I felt.

"Hit the deck!" Percy shouted, tackling Annabeth and hoping on top of her. As we all jumped on the floor, lightning struck the building, burning hot through the roof and only adding to the raging fire as I blacked out.

The last thing I heard was a voice I didn't know roaring "MIIIIIIIIINE!".


End file.
